Hello all,

I require assistance in combining files.
This is the scenario: I've got lots of files which contain one column in each file and would like to combine the files into one so that the contents of the file can be sorted.

For example,

File 1 File 2 ...
a d
b e
c f

Desired output;

File 3
a
b
c
d
e
f

I tried paste/cat but the output (as follows) is not what I wanted)

File 3
a d
b e
c f

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

This always works for me Give it a shot
cat file1 file2 >> file3

Thanks red dove!

I just found out that it works using 'cat'.

cat file1 file2 > file 3 # appends content of the files in a single column

Paste however, appends contents by column.

paste file1 file2 > file 3

I don't recommend cut/paste. That screws up files sometimes if the files have ascii ending characters at the end of line

Pls. Delete

$> cat file1
a
b
y
r
i
d
c

$> cat file2
d
e
f

$> cat file3
g
h
l

$> sort file[123]
a
b
c
d
d
e
f
g
h
i
l
r
y

@scrutinizer: Sure, there are several different ways to get that done, I just suggested most basic solution, which works with any shell/ any flavor.

@deindorfer: What are you suggesting to delete? The thread itself? Or the suggestions?