LAM(1)							    BSD General Commands Manual 						    LAM(1)

NAME

     lam -- laminate files

SYNOPSIS

     lam [-f min.max] [-p min.max] [-s sepstring] [-t c] file ...

DESCRIPTION

     lam copies the named files side by side onto the standard output.	The n-th input lines from the input files are considered fragments of the
     single long n-th output line into which they are assembled.  The name ``-'' means the standard input, and may be repeated.

     Normally, each option affects only the file after it.  If the option letter is capitalized it affects all subsequent files until it appears
     again uncapitalized.  The options are described below.

     -f min.max    Print line fragments according to the format string min.max, where min is the minimum field width and max the maximum field
		   width.  If 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.
     -p min.max    Like -f, but pad this file's field when end-of-file is reached and other files are still active.
     -s sepstring  Print sepstring before printing line fragments from the next file.  This option may appear after the last file.
     -t c	   The input line terminator is c instead of a newline.  The newline normally appended to each output line is omitted.

     To print files simultaneously for easy viewing use pr(1).

EXAMPLES

     The command

	   lam file1 file2 file3 file4

     joins 4 files together along each line.  To merge the lines from four different files use

	   lam file1 -S "
	   " file2 file3 file4

     Every 2 lines of a file may be joined on one line with

	   lam - - < file

     and a form letter with substitutions keyed by '@' can be done with

	   lam -t @ letter changes

SEE ALSO

     join(1), pr(1), printf(3)

BSD
								 December 1, 2001							       BSD