CMP(1) BSD General Commands Manual CMP(1)NAME
cmp -- compare two files
SYNOPSIS
cmp [-l | -s] file1 file2 [skip1 [skip2]]
DESCRIPTION
The cmp utility compares two files of any type and writes the results to the standard output. By default, cmp is silent if the files are the
same; if they differ, the byte and line number at which the first difference occurred is reported.
Bytes and lines are numbered beginning with one.
The following options are available:
-l Print the byte number (decimal) and the differing byte values (octal) for each difference.
-s Print nothing for differing files; return exit status only.
The optional arguments skip1 and skip2 are the byte offsets from the beginning of file1 and file2, respectively, where the comparison will
begin. The offset is decimal by default, but may be expressed as an hexadecimal or octal value by preceding it with a leading ``0x'' or
``0''.
The cmp utility exits with one of the following values:
0 The files are identical.
1 The files are different; this includes the case where one file is identical to the first part of the other. In the latter case, if the
-s option has not been specified, cmp writes to standard output that EOF was reached in the shorter file (before any differences were
found).
>1 An error occurred.
SEE ALSO diff(1), diff3(1)STANDARDS
The cmp utility is expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2 (``POSIX.2'') compatible.
BSD June 6, 1993 BSD
Check Out this Related Man Page
cmp(1) General Commands Manual cmp(1)Name
cmp - compare two files
Syntax
cmp [-l | -s] file1 file2 [ skip1 ] [ skip2 ]
Description
The command compares two files. If either file1 or file2 is `-', standard input is used for the file. With no options, makes no comment
if the files are the same. If they differ, it reports the byte and line number at which the difference occurred to standard output. If
one file is an initial subsequence of the other a message including the file name is written to standard error.
The optional skip1 and skip2 parameters are initial byte offsets into file1 and file2 respectively and may be either octal, by specifying a
leading 0, or decimal. When using skip1 and skip2 the offset is treated as the start of the respective input file. Only one option may be
specified at a time. Only one of the input files may be standard input at a time. Because the line number is not calculated when using
either of the options the use of either flag will increase the speed of
Options-l Long format: prints the byte number (decimal) and the differing bytes (octal) for each difference.
-s Suppresses normal output and sets the exit code only.
Diagnostics
Exit code 0 is returned for identical files, 1 for different files, and 2 for an inaccessible or missing argument.
See Alsocomm(1), diff(1)cmp(1)
Hi Guys,
I wish to compare two ebcdic files.
diff utility manual says it only compares two text files line by line.. I doubt this will be good for ebcdic files.
cmp utility does binary comparision but I do not find any thing in manual referring if it does support ebcdic file format.
let... (2 Replies)
Hi,
Please help me, I have two files. I need to output the difference of contents of each file in another file. For example, I need to know the content of the file1 that does not exist on file2 and vice versa. Please take note that the size of the files are large. How can I do it using unix... (4 Replies)
In my server migration requirement, I need to compare if one file on old server is exactly the same as the corresponding file on the new server.
For diff and comm, the inputs need to be sorted. But I do not want to disturb the content of the file and need to find byte-to-byte match.
Please... (4 Replies)
Hi,
As per my requirement, I need to take difference between two big files(around 6.5 GB) and get the difference to a output file without any line numbers or '<' or '>' in front of each new line.
As DIFF command wont work for big files, i tried to use BDIFF instead.
I am getting incorrect... (13 Replies)
I am comparing two files which are identical except for the timestamp which is incorporated within the otherwise same 372 bytes. I am using the command:
cmp -s $Todays_file $Yesterdays_file -i 372
When I run the command without the -i 372 it shows the difference i.e. the timestamp.... (5 Replies)
Hello All,
I am writing a file comparison utility and using the cmp command to compare 2file. But I need command that will compare 2 files and if the files are identical expect for differences in white spaces, then it should ignore those spaces and consider the two files equal. Is there a way to... (7 Replies)
Suppose u have two files
One file
aa bb
aa cc
aa uu
second file
aa cc
cc bb
uu aa
so to print the difference between to files
i shud get cc bb
What can be done (3 Replies)
I'm looking to build up a process which would compare 2 files and show difference, the difference needs to be done in such a way that it also shows which column value is differing.
So i think of this.
Run a diff between the files , then someway find which columns have different values need to... (6 Replies)
Help with case
Hello I need some help with case since most of the examples I found are related to a choice menus
I have 2 files (actually a lot of files with the specified prefix) in my dir e.g file1 & file2
I need to display:
case1:if file1 & file2 exist :file1_no=$(ll file1 |wc -l);... (2 Replies)
Hi,
I have two files
one with 12486 lines
second one with 13116
As per the comparsion between two files the count have 630 difference
I used diff command to find the difference between two files but it's not understandable
could any one suggest any command to get 630 records in a new... (4 Replies)
Hi all,
i have 50 files .data should be same in these 50 files , so my task is to find the difference. i need a logic , which finds difference between all files and print in output file with file name where it found that difference .
i tried below logic , but its not giving me what i want.
let... (2 Replies)
I have 2 files of almost same text apart from 2,3 ending lines. Now I want to get that difference in another file.
e.g file1.txt is
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/vg_livecd-lv_root
18G 2.4G 15G 14% /
tmpfs 504M ... (12 Replies)
Hi All,
I am getting a syntax error message while trying to compare 2 files using the compare function (LINUX)
command substitution: line 79: syntax error near unexpected token `('
command substitution: line 79: `cmp -s <(tr , \n < $COMMON_TMP/nt_per_gs.done | sort) <(tr , \n <... (5 Replies)
Hi All,
Am trying script to compare 2 files and print the difference found from old file to new file on line by line basis on side by side display.
Basically line by line comparision and files may contain blank line as well
I know we have compare/diff commands but i don't how to make... (10 Replies)