usr.bin/lam/lam.1

.\" Copyright (c) 1993
.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
.\"    without specific prior written permission.
.\"
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
.\"	@(#)lam.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
.\" $FreeBSD$
.\"
.Dd August 12, 2004
.Dt LAM 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm lam
.Nd laminate files
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Op Fl f Ar min . Ns Ar max
.Op Fl s Ar sepstring
.Op Fl t Ar c
.Ar
.Nm
.Op Fl p Ar min . Ns Ar max
.Op Fl s Ar sepstring
.Op Fl t Ar c
.Ar
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
utility copies the named files side by side onto the standard output.
The
.Em n-th
input lines from the input
.Ar files
are considered fragments of the single long
.Em n-th
output line into which they are assembled.
The name `\fB\-\fP' means the standard input, and may be repeated.
.Pp
Normally, each option affects only the
.Ar file
after it.
If the option letter is capitalized it affects all subsequent files
until it appears again uncapitalized.
The options are described below:
.Bl -tag -width indent
.It Fl f Ar min . Ns Ar max
Print line fragments according to the format string
.Ar min . Ns Ar max ,
where
.Ar min
is the minimum field width and
.Ar max
the maximum field width.
If
.Ar min
begins with a zero, zeros will be added to make up the field width,
and if it begins with a `\-', the fragment will be left-adjusted
within the field.
.It Fl p Ar min . Ns Ar max
Like
.Fl f ,
but pad this file's field when end-of-file is reached
and other files are still active.
.It Fl s Ar sepstring
Print
.Ar sepstring
before printing line fragments from the next file.
This option may appear after the last file.
.It Fl t Ar c
The input line terminator is
.Ar c
instead of a newline.
The newline normally appended to each output line is omitted.
.El
.Pp
To print files simultaneously for easy viewing use
.Xr pr 1 .
.Sh EXAMPLES
The command
.Bd -literal
lam file1 file2 file3 file4
.Ed
.Pp
joins 4 files together along each line.
To merge the lines from four different files use
.Bd -literal
lam file1 \-S "\\
" file2 file3 file4
.Ed
.Pp
Every 2 lines of a file may be joined on one line with
.Bd -literal
lam \- \- < file
.Ed
.Pp
and a form letter with substitutions keyed by `@' can be done with
.Bd -literal
lam \-t @ letter changes
.Ed
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr join 1 ,
.Xr paste 1 ,
.Xr pr 1 ,
.Xr printf 3
.Sh STANDARDS
Some of the functionality of
.Nm
is standardized as the
.Xr paste 1
utility by
.St -p1003.2 .
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
utility first appeared in
.Bx 4.2 .
.Sh BUGS
The
.Nm
utility does not recognize multibyte characters.