xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/cmp/cmp.1 (revision ce834215a70ff69e7e222827437116eee2f9ac6f)
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35.\"     @(#)cmp.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
36.\"	$Id: cmp.1,v 1.4 1997/02/22 19:54:29 peter Exp $
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.El
70.Pp
71The optional arguments
72.Ar skip1
73and
74.Ar skip2
75are the byte offsets from the beginning of
76.Ar file1
77and
78.Ar file2 ,
79respectively, where the comparison will begin.
80The offset is decimal by default, but may be expressed as an hexadecimal
81or octal value by preceding it with a leading ``0x'' or ``0''.
82.Pp
83The
84.Nm cmp
85utility exits with one of the following values:
86.Bl -tag -width 4n
87.It 0
88The files are identical.
89.It 1
90The files are different; this includes the case
91where one file is identical to the first part of
92the other.
93In the latter case, if the
94.Fl s
95option has not been specified,
96.Nm cmp
97writes to standard output that EOF was reached in the shorter
98file (before any differences were found).
99.It >1
100An error occurred.
101.El
102.Sh SEE ALSO
103.Xr diff 1 ,
104.Xr diff3 1
105.Sh STANDARDS
106The
107.Nm cmp
108utility is expected to be
109.St -p1003.2
110compatible.
111.Sh HISTORY
112A
113.Nm cmp
114command appeared in
115.At v1 .
116