xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/join/join.1 (revision df7f5d4de4592a8948a25ce01e5bddfbb7ce39dc)
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35.\"	@(#)join.1	8.3 (Berkeley) 4/28/95
36.\"
37.Dd April 28, 1995
38.Dt JOIN 1
39.Os
40.Sh NAME
41.Nm join
42.Nd relational database operator
43.Sh SYNOPSIS
44.Nm join
45.Oo
46.Fl a Ar file_number | Fl v Ar file_number
47.Oc
48.Op Fl e Ar string
49.Op Fl j Ar file_number field
50.Op Fl o Ar list
51.Bk -words
52.Ek
53.Op Fl t Ar char
54.Op Fl \&1 Ar field
55.Op Fl \&2 Ar field
56.Ar file1
57.Ar file2
58.Sh DESCRIPTION
59The join utility performs an ``equality join'' on the specified files
60and writes the result to the standard output.
61The ``join field'' is the field in each file by which the files are compared.
62The first field in each line is used by default.
63There is one line in the output for each pair of lines in
64.Ar file1
65and
66.Ar file2
67which have identical join fields.
68Each output line consists of the join field, the remaining fields from
69.Ar file1
70and then the remaining fields from
71.Ar file2 .
72.Pp
73The default field separators are tab and space characters.
74In this case, multiple tabs and spaces count as a single field separator,
75and leading tabs and spaces are ignored.
76The default output field separator is a single space character.
77.Pp
78Many of the options use file and field numbers.
79Both file numbers and field numbers are 1 based, i.e. the first file on
80the command line is file number 1 and the first field is field number 1.
81The following options are available:
82.Bl -tag -width Fl
83.It Fl a Ar file_number
84In addition to the default output, produce a line for each unpairable
85line in file
86.Ar file_number .
87(The argument to
88.Fl a
89must not be preceded by a space; see the
90.Sx COMPATIBILITY
91section.)
92.It Fl e Ar string
93Replace empty output fields with
94.Ar string .
95.It Fl o Ar list
96The
97.Fl o
98option specifies the fields that will be output from each file for
99each line with matching join fields.
100Each element of
101.Ar list
102has the form
103.Ql file_number.field ,
104where
105.Ar file_number
106is a file number and
107.Ar field
108is a field number.
109The elements of list must be either comma (``,'') or whitespace separated.
110(The latter requires quoting to protect it from the shell, or, a simpler
111approach is to use multiple
112.Fl o
113options.)
114.It Fl t Ar char
115Use character
116.Ar char
117as a field delimiter for both input and output.
118Every occurrence of
119.Ar char
120in a line is significant.
121.It Fl v Ar file_number
122Do not display the default output, but display a line for each unpairable
123line in file
124.Ar file_number .
125The options
126.Fl v Ar 1
127and
128.Fl v Ar 2
129may be specified at the same time.
130.It Fl 1 Ar field
131Join on the
132.Ar field Ns 'th
133field of file 1.
134.It Fl 2 Ar field
135Join on the
136.Ar field Ns 'th
137field of file 2.
138.El
139.Pp
140When the default field delimiter characters are used, the files to be joined
141should be ordered in the collating sequence of
142.Xr sort 1 ,
143using the
144.Fl b
145option, on the fields on which they are to be joined, otherwise
146.Nm join
147may not report all field matches.
148When the field delimiter characters are specified by the
149.Fl t
150option, the collating sequence should be the same as
151.Xr sort
152without the
153.Fl b
154option.
155.Pp
156If one of the arguments
157.Ar file1
158or
159.Ar file2
160is ``-'', the standard input is used.
161.Pp
162The
163.Nm join
164utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
165.Sh COMPATIBILITY
166For compatibility with historic versions of
167.Nm join ,
168the following options are available:
169.Bl -tag -width Fl
170.It Fl a
171In addition to the default output, produce a line for each unpairable line
172in both file 1 and file 2.
173(To distinguish between this and
174.Fl a Ar file_number ,
175.Nm join
176currently requires that the latter not include any white space.)
177.It Fl j1 Ar field
178Join on the
179.Ar field Ns 'th
180field of file 1.
181.It Fl j2 Ar field
182Join on the
183.Ar field Ns 'th
184field of file 2.
185.It Fl j Ar field
186Join on the
187.Ar field Ns 'th
188field of both file 1 and file 2.
189.It Fl o Ar list ...
190Historical implementations of
191.Nm join
192permitted multiple arguments to the
193.Fl o
194option.
195These arguments were of the form ``file_number.field_number'' as described
196for the current
197.Fl o
198option.
199This has obvious difficulties in the presence of files named ``1.2''.
200.El
201.Pp
202These options are available only so historic shellscripts don't require
203modification and should not be used.
204.Sh STANDARDS
205The
206.Nm join
207command is expected to be
208.St -p1003.2
209compatible.
210.Sh SEE ALSO
211.Xr awk 1 ,
212.Xr comm 1 ,
213.Xr paste 1 ,
214.Xr sort 1 ,
215.Xr uniq 1
216