---
name: "cif-diff"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "cif-tools"
version: "1.0.12-4"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/cif-diff"
---

# cif-diff(1)

A tool to compare two mmCIF files

## NAME

cif-diff - A tool to compare two mmCIF files

## SYNOPSIS

cif-diff \[OPTION\] file1 file2

## DESCRIPTION

The mmCIF format does not specify the order in which categories or fields should be recorded. Using this tool, you can reorder a second file in the same way as the first before comparing the content making it easier to spot differences.

## OPTIONS

- **--category**=arg

  Limit the comparison to this category, default is to show differences in all categories. This option can be specified multiple times.

- **--max-diff-count**=nr

  Display at most **nr** items per category. Default is 5 items, if you specify zero the number of items will unlimited.

  This option has no effect when the **--text** option is specified.

- **--text**

  Default is to display the differences in some kind of summary. But if you prefer to use a more graphical diff: this option will use vimdiff to display the differences.

- **--icase**

  Pass the *ignore case* option to vimdiff.

- **--iwhite**

  Pass the *ignore white* option to vimdiff.

- **--verbose**,**-v**

  Be more verbose, useful to diagnose validation errors.

## AUTHOR

Written by Maarten L. Hekkelman \<maarten@hekkelman.com\>

## REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs at https://github.com/PDB-REDO/cif-tools/issues

## SEE ALSO

**cif-grep**, **cif-merge**, **cif-validate**,  **cif2pdb**, **mmCQL**, **pdb2cif**.