paste(1)						      General Commands Manual							  paste(1)

NAME

       paste - Joins corresponding lines of several files or subsequent lines in one file

SYNOPSIS

       paste [-d list] [-s] file...

STANDARDS

       Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards as follows:

       paste:  XCU5.0

       Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about industry standards and associated tags.

OPTIONS

       Replaces  the  delimiter  that separates lines in the output (tab by default) with one or more characters from list.  If list contains more
       than one character, then the characters are repeated in order until the end of the output.  In parallel merging, the lines  from  the  last
       file always end with a newline character, instead of one from list.

	      The  following  special  characters  can be used in list: Newline character Tab Backslash Empty string (not a null character) [Tru64
	      UNIX]  An extended character

	      You must quote characters that have special meaning to the shell.  Merges all lines from each input file into  one  line	of  output
	      (serial  merging).   Using  this	option, the paste command merges all lines in the first input file forcing a newline before at the
	      end.  The command then continues with the next input file, continuing in the same manner until all input files have been	completed.
	      A tab separates the input lines unless you use the -d option.  Regardless of the list, the last character of the output is a newline
	      character.

OPERANDS

       The name of an input file.  You may specify up to 12 files, including hyphens.

	      If you specify a -, paste reads standard input recursively, one line for each -.

DESCRIPTION

       Specifying the -d option or no options causes the paste command to treat each file as a column, joining them horizontally with a tab  char-
       acter by default (parallel merging).

       Using the -s option, the paste command combines all lines of each input file into one output line (serial merging).  These lines are joined
       with the tab character by default.

       Output lines can be any length.

       [Tru64 UNIX]  The output of pr -t -m is similar to the output produced by the paste command, but pr with its options creates extra  spaces,
       tabs, and lines for an enhanced page layout.

RESTRICTIONS

       If the -s option is not used, it is an error if any specified file cannot be opened.

EXIT STATUS

       The following exit values are returned: Successful completion.  An error occurred.

EXAMPLES

       To paste several columns of data together, enter: paste	names  places  dates  > npd

	      This creates a file named npd that contains the data from names in one column, places in another, and dates in a third.  The columns
	      are separated by tab characters.

	      File npd then contains:

	      rachel	      New York	      28 February jerzy 	  Warsaw	  27 April mata 	   Nairobi	   21 June  michel
	      Boca Raton      27 July segui	      Managua	      18 November

	      A  tab  character  separates  the name, place, and date on each line.  To separate the columns with a character other than a tab (sh
	      only), enter: paste  -d"!@"  names  places  dates  > npd

	      This alternates the apostrophe (!) and the at sign (@) as the column separators.	If names, places, and dates are  the  same  as	in
	      Example 1, then npd contains:

	      rachel!New  York@28  February jerzy!Warsaw@27 April mata!Nairobi@21 June michel!Boca Raton@27 July segui!Managua@18 November To dis-
	      play the standard input in multiple columns, enter: ls | paste  -  -  -  -

	      This lists the current directory in four columns. Each hyphen (-) tells the paste command to create a column  containing	data  read
	      from  the  standard  input.  The first line is put in the first column, the second line in the second column, ... and then the fifth
	      line in the first column, and so on.

	      This is equivalent to ls | paste -d"			
"  -s  -

	      which fills the columns across the page with subsequent lines from the standard input.  The  -d			
  defines	the  character	to
	      insert after each column: a tab character (	) after the first three columns, and a newline character (
) after the fourth. Without
	      the -d option, paste -s - displays all of the input as one line with a tab between each column.  To merge  the  lines  of  the  file
	      names above into one output line, enter: paste -s names

	      This results in: rachel  jerzy   mata    michel  segui

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       The following environment variables affect the execution of paste: Provides a default value for the internationalization variables that are
       unset or null. If LANG is unset or null, the corresponding value from the default locale is used.  If any of the internationalization vari-
       ables  contain  an  invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none of the variables had been defined.  If set to a non-empty string value,
       overrides the values of all the other internationalization variables.  Determines the locale for the interpretation of sequences  of  bytes
       of  text  data  as  characters  (for example, single-byte as opposed to multibyte characters in arguments and input files).  Determines the
       locale for the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.  Determines the location of message catalogues for the
       processing of LC_MESSAGES.

SEE ALSO

       Commands:  cut(1), grep(1), fold(1), join(1), pr(1)

       Standards:  standards(5)

																	  paste(1)