xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/comm/comm.1 (revision ce834215a70ff69e7e222827437116eee2f9ac6f)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1990, 1993
2.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
5.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
6.\"
7.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
8.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
9.\" are met:
10.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
11.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
12.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
13.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
14.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
15.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
16.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
17.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
18.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
19.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
20.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
21.\"    without specific prior written permission.
22.\"
23.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
24.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
25.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
26.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
27.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
28.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
29.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
30.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
31.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
32.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
33.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
34.\"
35.\"     @(#)comm.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
36.\"
37.Dd June 6, 1993
38.Os
39.Dt COMM 1
40.Sh NAME
41.Nm comm
42.Nd select or reject lines common to two files
43.Sh SYNOPSIS
44.Nm comm
45.Op Fl 123
46.Ar file1 file2
47.Sh DESCRIPTION
48The
49.Nm comm
50utility reads
51.Ar file1
52and
53.Ar file2 ,
54which should be
55sorted lexically, and produces three text
56columns as output: lines only in
57.Ar file1 ;
58lines only in
59.Ar file2 ;
60and lines in both files.
61.Pp
62The filename ``-'' means the standard input.
63.Pp
64The following options are available:
65.Bl -tag -width Ds
66.It Fl 1
67Suppress printing of column 1.
68.It Fl 2
69Suppress printing of column 2.
70.It Fl 3
71Suppress printing of column 3.
72.El
73.Pp
74Each column will have a number of tab characters prepended to it
75equal to the number of lower numbered columns that are being printed.
76For example, if column number two is being suppressed, lines printed
77in column number one will not have any tabs preceding them, and lines
78printed in column number three will have one.
79.Pp
80.Nm Comm
81assumes that the files are lexically sorted; all characters
82participate in line comparisons.
83.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
84.Nm Comm
85exits 0 on success, >0 if an error occurred.
86.Sh SEE ALSO
87.Xr cmp 1 ,
88.Xr diff 1 ,
89.Xr sort 1 ,
90.Xr uniq 1
91.Sh STANDARDS
92The
93.Nm comm
94utility conforms to
95.St -p1003.2-92 .
96