xref: /netbsd/usr.bin/join/join.1 (revision bf9ec67e)
1.\"	$NetBSD: join.1,v 1.9 2002/02/08 01:36:25 ross Exp $
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37.\"	from: @(#)join.1	8.3 (Berkeley) 4/28/95
38.\"	$NetBSD: join.1,v 1.9 2002/02/08 01:36:25 ross Exp $
39.\"
40.Dd April 28, 1995
41.Dt JOIN 1
42.Os
43.Sh NAME
44.Nm join
45.Nd relational database operator
46.Sh SYNOPSIS
47.Nm ""
48.Bk -words
49.Oo
50.Fl a Ar file_number | Fl v Ar file_number
51.Oc
52.Ek
53.Bk -words
54.Op Fl e Ar string
55.Ek
56.Bk -words
57.Op Fl j Ar file_number field
58.Ek
59.Bk -words
60.Op Fl o Ar list
61.Ek
62.Op Fl t Ar char
63.Op Fl \&1 Ar field
64.Op Fl \&2 Ar field
65.Ar file1 file2
66.Sh DESCRIPTION
67The join utility performs an ``equality join'' on the specified files
68and writes the result to the standard output.
69The ``join field'' is the field in each file by which the files are compared.
70The first field in each line is used by default.
71There is one line in the output for each pair of lines in
72.Ar file1
73and
74.Ar file2
75which have identical join fields.
76Each output line consists of the join field, the remaining fields from
77.Ar file1
78and then the remaining fields from
79.Ar file2 .
80.Pp
81The default field separators are tab and space characters.
82In this case, multiple tabs and spaces count as a single field separator,
83and leading tabs and spaces are ignored.
84The default output field separator is a single space character.
85.Pp
86Many of the options use file and field numbers.
87Both file numbers and field numbers are 1 based, i.e. the first file on
88the command line is file number 1 and the first field is field number 1.
89The following options are available:
90.Bl -tag -width Fl
91.It Fl a Ar file_number
92In addition to the default output, produce a line for each unpairable
93line in file
94.Ar file_number .
95(The argument to
96.Fl a
97must not be preceded by a space; see the
98.Sx COMPATIBILITY
99section.)
100.It Fl e Ar string
101Replace empty output fields with
102.Ar string .
103.It Fl o Ar list
104The
105.Fl o
106option specifies the fields that will be output from each file for
107each line with matching join fields.
108Each element of
109.Ar list
110has the form
111.Ql file_number.field ,
112where
113.Ar file_number
114is a file number and
115.Ar field
116is a field number.
117The elements of list must be either comma (``,'') or whitespace separated.
118(The latter requires quoting to protect it from the shell, or, a simpler
119approach is to use multiple
120.Fl o
121options.)
122.It Fl t Ar char
123Use character
124.Ar char
125as a field delimiter for both input and output.
126Every occurrence of
127.Ar char
128in a line is significant.
129.It Fl v Ar file_number
130Do not display the default output, but display a line for each unpairable
131line in file
132.Ar file_number .
133The options
134.Fl v Ar 1
135and
136.Fl v Ar 2
137may be specified at the same time.
138.It Fl 1 Ar field
139Join on the
140.Ar field Ns 'th
141field of file 1.
142.It Fl 2 Ar field
143Join on the
144.Ar field Ns 'th
145field of file 2.
146.El
147.Pp
148When the default field delimiter characters are used, the files to be joined
149should be ordered in the collating sequence of
150.Xr sort 1 ,
151using the
152.Fl b
153option, on the fields on which they are to be joined, otherwise
154.Nm
155may not report all field matches.
156When the field delimiter characters are specified by the
157.Fl t
158option, the collating sequence should be the same as
159.Xr sort 1
160without the
161.Fl b
162option.
163.Pp
164If one of the arguments
165.Ar file1
166or
167.Ar file2
168is ``-'', the standard input is used.
169.Pp
170The
171.Nm
172utility exits 0 on success, and \*[Gt]0 if an error occurs.
173.Sh COMPATIBILITY
174For compatibility with historic versions of
175.Nm "" ,
176the following options are available:
177.Bl -tag -width Fl
178.It Fl a
179In addition to the default output, produce a line for each unpairable line
180in both file 1 and file 2.
181(To distinguish between this and
182.Fl a Ar file_number ,
183.Nm
184currently requires that the latter not include any white space.)
185.It Fl j1 Ar field
186Join on the
187.Ar field Ns 'th
188field of file 1.
189.It Fl j2 Ar field
190Join on the
191.Ar field Ns 'th
192field of file 2.
193.It Fl j Ar field
194Join on the
195.Ar field Ns 'th
196field of both file 1 and file 2.
197.It Fl o Ar list ...
198Historical implementations of
199.Nm
200permitted multiple arguments to the
201.Fl o
202option.
203These arguments were of the form ``file_number.field_number'' as described
204for the current
205.Fl o
206option.
207This has obvious difficulties in the presence of files named ``1.2''.
208.El
209.Pp
210These options are available only so historic shellscripts don't require
211modification and should not be used.
212.Sh SEE ALSO
213.Xr awk 1 ,
214.Xr comm 1 ,
215.Xr paste 1 ,
216.Xr sort 1 ,
217.Xr uniq 1
218.Sh STANDARDS
219The
220.Nm
221command is expected to be
222.St -p1003.2
223compatible.
224