xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/cmp/cmp.1 (revision 17ee9d00bc1ae1e598c38f25826f861e4bc6c3ce)
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35.\"     @(#)cmp.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
36.\"
37.Dd June 6, 1993
38.Dt CMP 1
39.Os
40.Sh NAME
41.Nm cmp
42.Nd compare two files
43.Sh SYNOPSIS
44.Nm cmp
45.Op Fl l | Fl s
46.Ar file1 file2
47.Op Ar skip1 Op Ar skip2
48.Sh DESCRIPTION
49The cmp utility compares two files of any type and writes the results
50to the standard output.
51By default,
52.Nm
53is silent if the files are the same; if they differ, the byte
54and line number at which the first difference occurred is reported.
55.Pp
56Bytes and lines are numbered beginning with one.
57.Pp
58The following options are available:
59.Bl -tag -width flag
60.It Fl l
61Print the byte number (decimal) and the differing
62byte values (octal) for each difference.
63.It Fl s
64Print nothing for differing files; return exit
65status only.
66.El
67.Pp
68The optional arguments
69.Ar skip1
70and
71.Ar skip2
72are the byte offsets from the beginning of
73.Ar file1
74and
75.Ar file2 ,
76respectively, where the comparison will begin.
77The offset is decimal by default, but may be expressed as an hexadecimal
78or octal value by preceding it with a leading ``0x'' or ``0''.
79.Pp
80The
81.Nm cmp
82utility exits with one of the following values:
83.Bl -tag -width 4n
84.It 0
85The files are identical.
86.It 1
87The files are different; this includes the case
88where one file is identical to the first part of
89the other.
90In the latter case, if the
91.Fl s
92option has not been specified,
93.Nm cmp
94writes to standard output that EOF was reached in the shorter
95file (before any differences were found).
96.It >1
97An error occurred.
98.El
99.Sh SEE ALSO
100.Xr diff 1 ,
101.Xr diff3 1
102.Sh STANDARDS
103The
104.Nm cmp
105utility is expected to be
106.St -p1003.2
107compatible.
108