Linux and UNIX Man Pages

Linux & Unix Commands - Search Man Pages

cmp(1) [opensolaris man page]

cmp(1)								   User Commands							    cmp(1)

NAME
cmp - compare two files SYNOPSIS
cmp [-l | -s] file1 file2 [skip1] [skip2] DESCRIPTION
The cmp utility compares two files. cmp writes no output if the files are the same. Under default options, if they differ, it writes to standard output the byte and line numbers at which the first difference occurred. Bytes and lines are numbered beginning with 1. If one file is an initial subsequence of the other, that fact is noted. skip1 and skip2 are initial byte offsets into file1 and file2 respec- tively, and can be either octal or decimal. A leading 0 denotes octal. OPTIONS
The following options are supported: -l Write the byte number (decimal) and the differing bytes (octal) for each difference. -s Write nothing for differing files. Return exit status only. OPERANDS
The following operands are supported: file1 A path name of the first file to be compared. If file1 is -, the standard input is used. file2 A path name of the second file to be compared. If file2 is -, the standard input is used. If both file1 and file2 refer to standard input or refer to the same FIFO special, block special or character special file, an error results. USAGE
See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of cmp when encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte (2^31 bytes). EXAMPLES
Example 1 Comparing Files Byte for Byte The following example does a byte for byte comparison of file1 and file2: example% cmp file1 file2 0 1024 It skips the first 1024 bytes in file2 before starting the comparison. ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables that affect the execution of cmp: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MES- SAGES, and NLSPATH. EXIT STATUS
The following error values are returned: 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. >1 An error occurred. ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes: +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ | ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ |Availability |SUNWcsu | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ |CSI |Enabled | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ |Interface Stability |Standard | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ SEE ALSO
comm(1), diff(1), attributes(5), environ(5), largefile(5), standards(5) SunOS 5.11 19 Jul 2006 cmp(1)

Check Out this Related Man Page

cmp(1)							      General Commands Manual							    cmp(1)

NAME
cmp - Compares two files SYNOPSIS
cmp [-l | -s] file1 file2 STANDARDS
Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards as follows: cmp:XCU5.0 Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about industry standards and associated tags. OPTIONS
Prints the byte number (decimal) and the differing bytes (octal) for each difference. Does not print data for differing files; returns only an exit value. OPERANDS
The path name of a file to be compared. The path name of a file to be compared. DESCRIPTION
The cmp command compares two files. If file1 or file2 is - (dash), standard input is used for that file. It is an error to specify - for both files. By default, the cmp command prints no information if the files are the same. If the files differ, cmp prints the byte and line number where the difference occurred. The cmp command also specifies whether one file is an initial subsequence of the other (that is, if the cmp command reads an End-of-File character in one file before finding any differences). Usually, you use the cmp command to compare nontext files and the diff command to compare text files. Note that bytes and lines reported by cmp are numbered from 1. EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned: The files are identical. The files differ. This includes files of different lengths that are identical in the first part of both files. An error occurred. EXAMPLES
To determine whether two files are identical, enter: cmp prog.o.bak prog.o The preceding command compares the files prog.o.bak and prog.o. If the files are identical, a message is not displayed. If the files differ, the location of the first difference is displayed. For instance: prog.o.bak prog.o differ: byte 5, line 1 If the message cmp: EOF on prog.o.bak is displayed, then the first part of prog.o is identical to prog.o.bak, but there is addi- tional data in prog.o. If the message cmp: EOF on prog.o is displayed, it is prog.o.bak that is the same as prog.o but also contains addition data. To display each pair of bytes that differ, enter: cmp -l prog.o.bak prog.o This compares the files and then displays the byte number (in decimal) and the differing bytes (in octal) for each difference. For example, if the fifth byte is octal 101 in prog.o.bak and 141 in prog.o, then the cmp command displays: 5 101 141 . . . ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The following environment variables affect the execution of cmp: 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). Determines the locale for the for- mat and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error. Determines the location of message catalogues for the processing of LC_MESSAGES. SEE ALSO
Commands: comm(1), bdiff(1), diff(1), diff3(1), sdiff(1) Standards: standards(5) cmp(1)
Man Page