I am trying to find the meaning of: diff filename 1 filename2 | grep '^[<>]' | sed “s/^> (.*)/\1 some string/;” [closed]

Question

I am trying to find the meaning of: diff filename 1 filename2 | grep '^[<>]' | sed "s/^> (.*)/\1 some string/;"

Please break this down for my understanding. I know a few because, am using them but some, are just a bunch of character

I haven't the faintest idea what this has to do with professional system/network administration. General unix questions should be asked on unix.stackexchange.com

Nikolaidis Fotis · Answer 1 · 2012-10-23 16:41:58Z

up vote 0 down vote

42 is always a valid answer :p Except for that,

diff filename 1 filename2

gets the differences of the files

| grep '^[<>]'

keep only lines starting with < or >

sed "s/^> (.*)/\1 some string/;"

for details read sed's manual, but what is does is to append a string at the end of the line

answered Oct 23 '12 at 16:41

Nikolaidis Fotis
1,18937

	what is 42. please explain – Piyush Saxena Oct 23 '12 at 16:50
	@PiyushSaxena, a meme. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life,_the_Universe_and_Everything en.wikipedia.org/wiki/42_(number) – Zoredache Oct 23 '12 at 16:51

closed as off topic by MDMarra, mgorven, voretaq7♦ Oct 23 '12 at 17:25