NAME
cmp
—
compare two files
SYNOPSIS
cmp |
[-l | -s |
-x ] [-hz ]
file1 file2 [skip1
[skip2]] |
DESCRIPTION
Thecmp
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:
-h
- Do not follow symbolic links.
-l
,--verbose
- Print the byte number (decimal) and the differing byte values (octal) for each difference.
-s
,--silent
,--quiet
- Print nothing for differing files; return exit status only.
-x
- Like
-l
but prints in hexadecimal and using zero as index for the first byte in the files. -z
- For regular files compare file sizes first, and fail the comparison if they are not equal.
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 a hexadecimal or octal value by preceding it with a leading ``0x'' or ``0''.
EXIT STATUS
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 error that EOF was reached in the shorter file (before any differences were found). - >1
- An error occurred.
EXAMPLES
Assuming a file named example.txt with the following contents:
a b c
Compare stdin with example.txt:
$ echo -e "a\nb\nc" | cmp - example.txt
Same as above but introducing a change in the third byte of stdin. Show the byte number (decimal) and differing byte (octal):
$ echo -e "a\nR\nc" | cmp -l - example.txt 3 122 142
Compare file sizes of example.txt and
/boot/loader.conf and return 1 if they are not
equal. Note that -z
can only be used with regular
files:
$ cmp -z example.txt /boot/loader.conf example.txt /boot/loader.conf differ: size
Compare stdin with example.txt omitting the first 4 bytes from stdin and the first 2 bytes from example.txt:
$ echo -e "a\nR\nb\nc" | cmp - example.txt 4 2
SEE ALSO
STANDARDS
The cmp
utility is expected to be
IEEE Std 1003.2 (“POSIX.2”)
compatible. The -h
, -x
, and
-z
options are extensions to the standard.
HISTORY
A cmp
command appeared in
Version 1 AT&T UNIX.