cmp(1)

NAME

     cmp - compare two files

SYNOPSIS

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

DESCRIPTION

     The cmp utility compares two files. cmp will write no output
     if  the  files  are the same. Under default options, if they
     differ, it writes to  standard  output  the  byte  and  line
     numbers  at  which  the first difference occurred. Bytes and
     lines are numbered beginning with 1. If one file is an  ini-
     tial subsequence of the other, that fact is noted. skip1 and
     skip2 are initial byte offsets into file1 and file2  respec-
     tively,  and  may  be  either  octal or decimal; a leading 0
     denotes octal.

OPTIONS

     The following options are supported:

     -l    Write the byte  number  (decimal)  and  the  differing
           bytes (octal) for each difference.

     -s    Write nothing for differing files;  return  exit  sta-
           tuses only.

OPERANDS

     The following operands are supported:

     file1 A path name of the first file to be compared. If file1
           is -, the standard input will be used.

     file2 A path name of the second  file  to  be  compared.  If
           file2 is -, the standard input will be used.

     If both file1 and file2 refer to standard input or refer  to
     the  same  FIFO  special, block special or character special
     file, an error results.

USAGE

     See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of  cmp
     when  encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte (2
    **31 bytes).

EXAMPLES

     Example 1: Comparing files byte for byte

     The following example:

     example% cmp file1 file2 0 1024

     does a byte for byte comparison of file1 and file2. It skips
     the  first  1024  bytes  in  file2  before starting the com-
     parison.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

     See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment
     variables  that  affect  the execution of cmp: LANG, LC_ALL,
     LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.

EXIT STATUS

     The following error values are returned:

     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.

     >1    An error occurred.

ATTRIBUTES

     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:

     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | SUNWcsu                     |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | CSI                         | enabled                     |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Interface Stability         | Standard                    |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|

SEE ALSO

     comm(1), diff(1), attributes(5),  environ(5),  largefile(5),
     standards(5)