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Creating and Removing Files

Sometimes when comparing two directories, a file may exist in one directory but not the other. If you give diff the -N or --new-file option, or if you supply an old or new file that is named /dev/null or is empty and is dated the Epoch (1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC), diff outputs a patch that adds or deletes the contents of this file. When given such a patch, patch normally creates a new file or removes the old file.