xref: /dragonfly/usr.bin/comm/comm.1 (revision f746689a)
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35.\"     From: @(#)comm.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
36.\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.bin/comm/comm.1,v 1.4.2.5 2002/07/11 00:43:37 tjr Exp $
37.\" $DragonFly: src/usr.bin/comm/comm.1,v 1.2 2003/06/17 04:29:25 dillon Exp $
38.\"
39.Dd June 6, 1993
40.Os
41.Dt COMM 1
42.Sh NAME
43.Nm comm
44.Nd select or reject lines common to two files
45.Sh SYNOPSIS
46.Nm
47.Op Fl 123i
48.Ar file1 file2
49.Sh DESCRIPTION
50The
51.Nm
52utility reads
53.Ar file1
54and
55.Ar file2 ,
56which should be
57sorted lexically, and produces three text
58columns as output: lines only in
59.Ar file1 ;
60lines only in
61.Ar file2 ;
62and lines in both files.
63.Pp
64The filename ``-'' means the standard input.
65.Pp
66The following options are available:
67.Bl -tag -width indent
68.It Fl 1
69Suppress printing of column 1.
70.It Fl 2
71Suppress printing of column 2.
72.It Fl 3
73Suppress printing of column 3.
74.It Fl i
75Case insensitive comparison of lines.
76.El
77.Pp
78Each column will have a number of tab characters prepended to it
79equal to the number of lower numbered columns that are being printed.
80For example, if column number two is being suppressed, lines printed
81in column number one will not have any tabs preceding them, and lines
82printed in column number three will have one.
83.Pp
84The
85.Nm
86utility assumes that the files are lexically sorted; all characters
87participate in line comparisons.
88.Sh EXIT STATUS
89.Ex -std
90.Sh SEE ALSO
91.Xr cmp 1 ,
92.Xr diff 1 ,
93.Xr sort 1 ,
94.Xr uniq 1
95.Sh STANDARDS
96The
97.Nm
98utility conforms to
99.St -p1003.2-92 .
100.Sh HISTORY
101A
102.Nm
103command appeared in
104.At v4 .
105