Definition of "diff"

diff

/dɪf/

noun
plural diffs
1. (slang) Clipping of difference.
  Quotations
  [Pogo:] A woman outthunk is a woman scorned and you know what's got no fury like that! [...] Mus' I tell you? It's Sunday. [Albert:] What's the diff? Tell away. [Pogo, whispering:] Hell.
  1960 March 13, Walt Kelly, Pogo, Sunday, comic strip, page 277
2. (video games, slang) Used to trash-talk an opposing team at the end of a game by pointing out a skill difference between some role and the same role on the other team.
3. (computing) Any program which compares two files or sets of files and outputs a description of the differences between them.
4. (computing) The output of a diff program, a diff file.
  Quotations
  I didn't want to waste people's time telling them things they already knew. It's more efficient just to give them the diffs.
  2004, Paul Graham, Great Hackers, Essay
5. (automotive) Abbreviation of differential: the differential gear in an automobile.
  Quotations
  Many operators cursed the early diff and driveline set-ups[.]
  2000, Bob Foster, Birdum or Bust!, Henley Beach, SA: Seaview Press, page 45
6. (medicine) Abbreviation of differential: differential of types of white blood cell in a complete blood count.
  Quotations
  Hemoccult emesis and stool, CBC with diff, PT/PTT, type and cross for PRBCs.
  2006, “Gastroenterology: Esophageal Varices”, in Steven E. Diaz, The Little Black Book of Emergency Medicine (Jones and Bartlett's Little Black Book Series), 2nd edition, Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, page 103
7. (climbing) A difficult route.
verb
third-person singular simple present diffs, present participle diffing, simple past and past participle diffed
1. (transitive, computing) To run a diff program on (files or items) so as to produce a description of the differences between them, as for a patch file.
  Quotations
  As we move through this chapter, you will quickly see the benefits of diffing code changes to drivers, libraries, and applications.
  2011, Gray Hat Hacking : The Ethical Hacker's Handbook‎, 3rd edition, New York: McGraw-Hill, page 484
2. (transitive, computing) To compare two files or other objects, manually or otherwise.
adjective
not comparable
1. Abbreviation of different.
  Quotations
  I don't think it's any diff then in grade school when someone said "come on take a drag it will make you look cool"
  2000 August 15, ZedMan2K, “Anti-Leiberman Backlash Already”, in alt.religion.christian.baptist‎ (Usenet)
  Is there a way to tell it to pick a diff one by default?
  2006 August 25, jes.t.er, “Character names”, in alt.games.warcraft‎ (Usenet)
proper noun
1. (computing) A program, historically part of the Unix operating system, which compares two files or sets of files and outputs a description of the differences between them.

Definition of "diff"

diff

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proper noun