Definition of "diff" in English

noun

1. (slang) Clipping of difference

   • A peach and an apricot? What's the diff?

2. (mathematics) Clipping of differential

   • This function takes that diff and plugs it into the larger structure.

3. (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.

   • tank diff (i.e., the deciding factor in the game was the difference in skill between the teams' tank players)

4. (computing) Any program which compares two files or sets of files and outputs a description of the differences between them.

5. (computing) The output of a diff program, a diff file.

   • edit diff

6. (automotive) Abbreviation of differential: the differential gear in an automobile.

   • This diff is capable of locking up when wheel slip occurs.

7. (medicine) Abbreviation of differential: differential of types of white blood cell in a complete blood count.

   • CBC with diff

8. (climbing) A difficult route.

9. (fandom slang) Clipping of difficulty.

verb

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.

2. (transitive, computing) To compare two files or other objects, manually or otherwise.

3. (transitive, fandom slang) To win (or to be able to win) a fight against another, with a defined level of difficulty. Usually used when power scaling fictional characters.

adjective

1. Abbreviation of different.

name

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.