Any difference between vimdiff and vim -d?

Question

Are there any differences between using vimdiff x.py y.py and vim -d x.py y.py?

Answer 1

If your vim supports diff mode (which is in most cases), there is no difference.

There is a minor difference though, if your vim is compiled without the +diff feature, vimdiff a b will produce the error message:

This Vim was not compiled with the diff feature.

However, vim -d a b will silently accept without entering diff mode.

Unless you are on amiga, in which case the -d is interpreted as a device name for use as a terminal.