Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)

FreeBSD Manual Pages

  
 
  

home | help
CMP(1)			  BSD General Commands Manual			CMP(1)

NAME
     cmp -- compare two	files

SYNOPSIS
     cmp [-l | -s | -x]	[-z] file1 file2 [skip1	[skip2]]

DESCRIPTION
     The cmp 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 differ-
     ence occurred is reported.

     Bytes and lines are numbered beginning with one.

     The following options are available:

     -l	   Print the byte number (decimal) and the differing byte values (oc-
	   tal)	for each difference.

     -s	   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 be-
     ginning of	file1 and file2, respectively, where the comparison will be-
     gin.  The offset is decimal by default, but may be	expressed as an	hexa-
     decimal or	octal value by preceding it with a leading ``0x'' or ``0''.

     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.

SEE ALSO
     diff(1), diff3(1)

STANDARDS
     The cmp utility is	expected to be IEEE Std	1003.2 ("POSIX.2") compatible.

HISTORY
     A cmp command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.

BSD				 June 6, 1993				   BSD

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | SEE ALSO | STANDARDS | HISTORY

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=cmp&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+5.0-RELEASE>

home | help