xref: /original-bsd/usr.bin/cmp/cmp.1 (revision d54be081)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1987, 1990 The Regents of the University of California.
2.\" All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" %sccs.include.redist.man%
5.\"
6.\"     @(#)cmp.1	6.6 (Berkeley) 06/17/91
7.\"
8.Dd
9.Dt CMP 1
10.Os
11.Sh NAME
12.Nm cmp
13.Nd compare two files
14.Sh SYNOPSIS
15.Nm cmp
16.Op Fl l Li \&| Fl s
17.Ar file1 file2
18.Sh DESCRIPTION
19The cmp utility compares two files of any type and
20writes the results to the standard output.
21By default,
22.Nm
23is silent if the files are the same; if they differ, the byte
24and line number at which the first difference occurred is reported.
25.Pp
26Bytes and lines are numbered beginning with one.
27.Pp
28The following options are available:
29.Bl -tag -width Ds
30.It Fl l
31Print the byte number (decimal) and the differing
32byte values (octal) for each difference.
33.It Fl s
34Print nothing for differing files; return exit
35status only.
36.El
37.Pp
38If
39.Ar file1
40or
41.Ar file2
42is ``-'', the the standard input is used.
43.Pp
44The
45.Nm cmp
46utility exits with one of the following values:
47.Bl -tag -width 4n
48.It 0
49The files are identical.
50.It 1
51The files are different; this includes the case
52where one file is identical to the first part of
53the other.
54In the latter case, if the
55.Fl s
56option has
57not been specified, cmp writes to standard error
58that EOF was reached in the shorter file (before
59any differences were found).
60.It >1
61An error occurred.
62.El
63.Sh SEE ALSO
64.Xr diff 1 ,
65.Xr diff3 1
66.Sh STANDARDS
67The
68.Nm cmp
69function is expected to be POSIX 1003.2 compatible.
70