What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Diff vs Riff - What's the difference?

diff | riff |

As a noun diff

is (slang).

As a verb diff

is (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.

As a proper noun diff

is (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.

As an acronym riff is

.

diff

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (slang)
  • A peach and an apricot? What's the diff ?
  • (computing) Any program which compares two files or sets of files and outputs a description of the differences between them.
  • (computing) The output of a diff program. A diff file.
  • * 2004 , , Great Hackers , Essay:
  • 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 .
  • (medicine) : differential of types of white blood cell in a complete blood count.
  • (slang)
  • (rock climbing) A difficult route.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (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.
  • (computing) To compare two files or other objects, manually or otherwise.
  • Proper noun

    (en proper noun)
  • (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.
  • See also

    * (computing ) patch

    riff

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A repeated instrumental melody line in a song.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2009 , date=November 27 , author= , title=Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child has 'best guitar riff' , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child has been named the greatest guitar riff of all time, 41 years after it was recorded, in a poll by website Music Radar.}}
  • A clever or witty remark.
  • A variation on something.
  • *2012 , The Economist, London Skyline: Tower Power
  • Both the Orbit and the Pinnacle are riffs on an idea sketched out in 1917 by Vladimir Tatlin for a monument to international communism.
  • A spoof
  • * 26 June 2014 , A.A Dowd, AV Club Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler spoof rom-com clichés in They Came Together [http://www.avclub.com/review/paul-rudd-and-amy-poehler-spoof-rom-com-cliches-th-206220]
  • The creative team has experience with spoofing: Both Rudd and Poehler had parts in Wain’s Wet Hot American Summer, a hysterically irreverent riff on ’80s summer-camp comedies.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To improvise in the performance or practice of an art, especially by expanding on or making novel use of traditional themes.
  • See also

    * riff-raff * riffraff