NAME

zcmp, zdiff — compare compressed files

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

zcmp and zdiff are filters that invoke cmp(1) or diff(1) respectively to compare compressed files. Such files generally have a “Z” or “gz” extension (both the compress(1) and gzip(1) formats are supported). Any options that are specified are passed to cmp(1) or diff(1).

If only file1 is specified, it is compared against a file with the same name, but with the extension removed. When both file1 or file2 are specified, either file may be compressed.

ENVIRONMENT

TMPDIR

Directory in which to place temporary files. If unset, /tmp is used.

FILES

/tmp/zcmp.XXXXXXXXXX

Temporary file for zcmp.

/tmp/zdiff.XXXXXXXXXX

Temporary file for zdiff.

SEE ALSO

cmp(1), compress(1), diff(1), gzip(1)

CAVEATS

zcmp and zdiff rely solely on the file extension to determine what is, or is not, a compressed file. Consequently, the following are not supported as arguments:

• directories
• device special files
• filenames indicating the standard input (‘-’)