Re: Bug with `-w' (`--ignore-all-space') option

[Jim Meyering]

Andreas Schwab wrote:
> Khalukhin Alexander <address@hidden> writes:
>
>> Here are two simple text files:
>>
>> address@hidden 1]$ cat test1.txt
>> a a a a
>>
>> address@hidden 1]$ cat test2.txt
>> a
>> a
>> a
>> a
>>
>> Now I'm trying to find difference, using -w (or --ignore-all-space) option:
>>
>> address@hidden 1]$ diff -w test1.txt test2.txt
>> 1c1,4
>> < a a a a
>> ---
>>> a
>>> a
>>> a
>>> a
>>
>>
>> But judging to MANs they should have no differences:
>
> diff always operates on lines, which separated by newlines that are not
> considered part of them.
>
>> http://www.gnu.org/software/diffutils/manual/html_node/diff-Options.html#diff%20Options
>> -w --ignore-all-space Ignore white space when comparing lines. See White
>> Space<http://www.gnu.org/software/diffutils/manual/html_node/White-Space.html#White%20Space>.
>>
>>
>> http://www.gnu.org/software/diffutils/manual/html_node/White-Space.html#White%20Space
>> The -w and --ignore-all-space options are stronger still. They ignore
>> difference even if one line has white space where the other line has
>> none. White
>> space characters include tab, *newline*, vertical tab, form feed, carriage
>> return, and space; some locales may define additional characters to be white
>> space.
>>
>> Is it a BUG?
>
> It's a documentation bug.

Thanks for the report.
FYI, that has been fixed for a while, and will
be updated with the next release, which will be soon.