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(textutils.info)comm invocation


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`comm': Compare two sorted files line by line
=============================================

   `comm' writes to standard output lines that are common, and lines
that are unique, to two input files; a file name of `-' means standard
input.  Synopsis:

     comm [OPTION]... FILE1 FILE2

   Before `comm' can be used, the input files must be sorted using the
collating sequence specified by the `LC_COLLATE' locale, with trailing
newlines significant.  If an input file ends in a non-newline
character, a newline is silently appended.  The `sort' command with no
options always outputs a file that is suitable input to `comm'.

   With no options, `comm' produces three column output.  Column one
contains lines unique to FILE1, column two contains lines unique to
FILE2, and column three contains lines common to both files.  Columns
are separated by a single TAB character.

   The options `-1', `-2', and `-3' suppress printing of the
corresponding columns.  Also see Note: Common options.

   Unlike some other comparison utilities, `comm' has an exit status
that does not depend on the result of the comparison.  Upon normal
completion `comm' produces an exit code of zero.  If there is an error
it exits with nonzero status.


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