xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/cmp/cmp.1 (revision 64db83a8ab2d1f72a9b2174b39d2ef42b5b0580c)
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35.\"     @(#)cmp.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
36.\" $FreeBSD$
37.\"
38.Dd June 6, 1993
39.Dt CMP 1
40.Os
41.Sh NAME
42.Nm cmp
43.Nd compare two files
44.Sh SYNOPSIS
45.Nm cmp
46.Op Fl l | Fl s
47.Ar file1 file2
48.Op Ar skip1 Op Ar skip2
49.Sh DESCRIPTION
50The
51.Nm cmp
52utility compares two files of any type and writes the results
53to the standard output.
54By default,
55.Nm cmp
56is silent if the files are the same; if they differ, the byte
57and line number at which the first difference occurred is reported.
58.Pp
59Bytes and lines are numbered beginning with one.
60.Pp
61The following options are available:
62.Bl -tag -width flag
63.It Fl l
64Print the byte number (decimal) and the differing
65byte values (octal) for each difference.
66.It Fl s
67Print nothing for differing files; return exit
68status only.
69.It Fl x
70Like
71.Fl l
72but prints in hexadecimal and using zero as index
73for the first byte in the files.
74.El
75.Pp
76The optional arguments
77.Ar skip1
78and
79.Ar skip2
80are the byte offsets from the beginning of
81.Ar file1
82and
83.Ar file2 ,
84respectively, where the comparison will begin.
85The offset is decimal by default, but may be expressed as an hexadecimal
86or octal value by preceding it with a leading ``0x'' or ``0''.
87.Pp
88The
89.Nm cmp
90utility exits with one of the following values:
91.Bl -tag -width 4n
92.It 0
93The files are identical.
94.It 1
95The files are different; this includes the case
96where one file is identical to the first part of
97the other.
98In the latter case, if the
99.Fl s
100option has not been specified,
101.Nm cmp
102writes to standard error that EOF was reached in the shorter
103file (before any differences were found).
104.It >1
105An error occurred.
106.El
107.Sh SEE ALSO
108.Xr diff 1 ,
109.Xr diff3 1
110.Sh STANDARDS
111The
112.Nm cmp
113utility is expected to be
114.St -p1003.2
115compatible.
116.Sh HISTORY
117A
118.Nm cmp
119command appeared in
120.At v1 .
121