$ diff dddd eeee 2c2 < werfef --- > werftef 7c7 < esdd --- > es4dd $ $ diff dddd eeee | sed -re '/^[><]/d' 2c2 --- 7c7 --- $ #### use strict; use warnings; my $file1 = q{dddd}; my $file2 = q{eeee}; my @diffs = do{ open my $diffFH, q{-|}, qq{diff $file1 $file2} or die qq{fork: diff $file1 $file2: $!\n}; grep ! m{^[><]}, <$diffFH>; }; print for @diffs; #### $ ./spw765446 2c2 --- 7c7 --- $