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CMP (1)

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cmp - compare two files

CONTENTS

Synopsis
Description
See Also
Diagnostics

cmp [-l] [-s] [-w] file1 file2 [skip1 [skip2]]

The two files are compared. (If a file is '-', the standard input is used.) Under default options, cmp makes no comment if the files are the same; if they differ, it announces the byte and line number at which the difference occurred. If one file is an initial subsequence of the other, that fact is noted. If skip1 or skip2 are given, the indicated number of bytes is read from each file before the comparison starts. The skip values may be either decimal or, if beginning with '0', octal.

Options:

-l	Print the byte number (decimal) and the differing bytes (octal) for each difference.
-s	Print nothing for differing files; return codes only.
The following option is an extension:
-w	For each difference, the surrounding 8-byte unit, measured from the beginning of the file, is printed for both files as a 64-bit MSB integer in octal, and as a byte string, with non-ASCII and control characters replaced by an underscore.

diff(1), comm(1)

Exit code 0 is returned for identical files, 1 for different files, 2 for an inaccessible or missing argument.