COMM(1) BSD Reference Manual COMM(1)NAMEcomm - select or reject lines common to two files
SYNOPSIScomm [-123f] file1 file2
DESCRIPTION
The comm utility reads file1 and file2, which should be sorted lexically,
and produces three text columns as output: lines only in file1; lines
only in file2; and lines in both files.
The filename "-" means the standard input.
The options are as follows:
-1 Suppress printing of column 1.
-2 Suppress printing of column 2.
-3 Suppress printing of column 3.
-f Fold case in line comparisons.
Each column will have a number of tab characters prepended to it equal to
the number of lower numbered columns that are being printed. For example,
if column number two is being suppressed, lines printed in column number
one will not have any tabs preceding them, and lines printed in column
number three will have one.
comm assumes that the files are lexically sorted; all characters partici-
pate in line comparisons.
The comm utility exits 0 on success or >0 if an error occurred.
SEE ALSOcmp(1), diff(1), sort(1), uniq(1)STANDARDS
The comm utility conforms to IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 ("POSIX.2").
HISTORY
A comm command appeared in Version 4 AT&T UNIX.
MirOS BSD #10-current June 6, 1993 1
