xzdiff
Show differences between compressed files
TLDR
Compare two files
Compare two files, showing the differences side by side
Compare two files and report only that they differ (no details on what is different)
Compare two files and report when the files are the same
Compare two files using paginated results
SYNOPSIS
xzdiff [diff options] file1 file2
PARAMETERS
diff options
Options passed directly to the underlying diff command. Consult the diff manual page for available options.
file1
The first xz-compressed file to compare.
file2
The second xz-compressed file to compare. Can also be a directory.
DESCRIPTION
The xzdiff command is a tool for finding differences between xz-compressed files. It decompresses the input files in memory and then uses the diff command to compare the uncompressed data. This allows you to efficiently identify changes between versions of files that have been compressed using the xz format, without needing to manually decompress them first. It is primarily useful for comparing versions of configuration files, source code, or any other text-based data stored in the xz archive format. xzdiff supports similar options of the standard diff command. If diff returns exit code 0 or 1, then xzdiff does too. If diff returns an exit code greater than 1, then xzdiff returns exit code 2.
USAGE NOTES
xzdiff automatically decompresses the input files before passing them to the diff command.
Ensure that diff is installed and available in your system's PATH.
The program automatically detects if files are xz compressed; there is no need to specify this.
EXIT STATUS
The exit status of xzdiff is the same as that of diff. If diff returns exit code 0 or 1, then xzdiff does too. If diff returns an exit code greater than 1, then xzdiff returns exit code 2.