10.11.2 Inhibiting Keyboard Input

There are two ways you can prevent patch from asking you any questions. The `-f' or `--force' option assumes that you know what you are doing. It causes patch to do the following:

• Skip patches that do not contain file names in their headers.

• Patch files even though they have the wrong version for the `Prereq:' line in the patch;

• Assume that patches are not reversed even if they look like they are.

The `-t' or `--batch' option is similar to `-f', in that it suppresses questions, but it makes somewhat different assumptions:

• Skip patches that do not contain file names in their headers (the same as `-f').

• Skip patches for which the file has the wrong version for the `Prereq:' line in the patch;

• Assume that patches are reversed if they look like they are.