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Quote was missing the last few lines of the original. An example, and the last few words were missing. Making the text a bit more harder to understand

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edit approved Sep 14, 2021 at 7:09

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`LaR'
     Add the lines in range R of the second file after line L of the
     first file.  For example, `8a12,15' means append lines 12-15 of
     file 2 after line 8 of file 1; or, if changing file 2 into file 1,
     delete lines 12-15 of file 2.

`FcT'
     Replace the lines in range F of the first file with lines in range
     T of the second file.  This is like a combined add and delete, but
     more compact.  For example, `5,7c8,10' means change lines 5-7 of
     file 1 to read as lines 8-10 of file 2; or, if changing file 2 into
     file 1, change lines 8-10 of file 2 to read as lines 5-7 of file 1.

`RdL'
     Delete the lines in range R from the first file; line L is where
     they would have appeared in the second file had they not been 
     deleted.  For example, '5,7d3' means delete lines 5-7 of file 1;
     or, if changing file 2 into file 1, append lines 5-7 of file1
     after line 3 of file 2.

`LaR'
     Add the lines in range R of the second file after line L of the
     first file.  For example, `8a12,15' means append lines 12-15 of
     file 2 after line 8 of file 1; or, if changing file 2 into file 1,
     delete lines 12-15 of file 2.

`FcT'
     Replace the lines in range F of the first file with lines in range
     T of the second file.  This is like a combined add and delete, but
     more compact.  For example, `5,7c8,10' means change lines 5-7 of
     file 1 to read as lines 8-10 of file 2; or, if changing file 2 into
     file 1, change lines 8-10 of file 2 to read as lines 5-7 of file 1.

`RdL'
     Delete the lines in range R from the first file; line L is where
     they would have appeared in the second file had they not been

`LaR'
     Add the lines in range R of the second file after line L of the
     first file.  For example, `8a12,15' means append lines 12-15 of
     file 2 after line 8 of file 1; or, if changing file 2 into file 1,
     delete lines 12-15 of file 2.

`FcT'
     Replace the lines in range F of the first file with lines in range
     T of the second file.  This is like a combined add and delete, but
     more compact.  For example, `5,7c8,10' means change lines 5-7 of
     file 1 to read as lines 8-10 of file 2; or, if changing file 2 into
     file 1, change lines 8-10 of file 2 to read as lines 5-7 of file 1.

`RdL'
     Delete the lines in range R from the first file; line L is where
     they would have appeared in the second file had they not been 
     deleted.  For example, '5,7d3' means delete lines 5-7 of file 1;
     or, if changing file 2 into file 1, append lines 5-7 of file1
     after line 3 of file 2.

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answered Jul 6, 2013 at 16:29

terdon ♦

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Summary:

Given a diff file1 file2, < means the line is missing in file2 and >means the line is missing in file1. The 3d2 and 5a5 can be ignored, they are commands for patch which is often used with diff.

Full Answer:

Many *nix utilities offer TeXinfo manuals as well as the simpler man pages. you can access these by running info command, for example info diff. In this case, the section your are interested in is:

2.4.2 Detailed Description of Normal Format

The normal output format consists of one or more hunks of differences; each hunk shows one area where the files differ. Normal format hunks look like this:

 CHANGE-COMMAND
 < FROM-FILE-LINE
 < FROM-FILE-LINE...
 ---
 > TO-FILE-LINE
 > TO-FILE-LINE...

There are three types of change commands. Each consists of a line number or comma-separated range of lines in the first file, a single character indicating the kind of change to make, and a line number or comma-separated range of lines in the second file. All line numbers are the original line numbers in each file. The types of change commands are:

`LaR'
     Add the lines in range R of the second file after line L of the
     first file.  For example, `8a12,15' means append lines 12-15 of
     file 2 after line 8 of file 1; or, if changing file 2 into file 1,
     delete lines 12-15 of file 2.

`FcT'
     Replace the lines in range F of the first file with lines in range
     T of the second file.  This is like a combined add and delete, but
     more compact.  For example, `5,7c8,10' means change lines 5-7 of
     file 1 to read as lines 8-10 of file 2; or, if changing file 2 into
     file 1, change lines 8-10 of file 2 to read as lines 5-7 of file 1.

`RdL'
     Delete the lines in range R from the first file; line L is where
     they would have appeared in the second file had they not been