[unix-history] / usr.bin / uniq / uniq.1

.\" Copyright (c) 1991 Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
.\"    without specific prior written permission.
.\"
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
.\"     @(#)uniq.1	6.5 (Berkeley) 1/9/92
.\"
.Dd January 9, 1992
.Dt UNIQ
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm uniq
.Nd report or filter out repeated lines in a file
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm uniq
.Op Fl c | Fl d | Fl u
.Op Fl f Ar fields
.Op Fl s Ar chars
.Oo
.Ar input_file
.Op Ar output_file
.Oc
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm uniq
utility reads the standard input comparing adjacent lines, and writes
a copy of each unique input line to the standard output.
The second and succeeding copies of identical adjacent input lines are
not written.
Repeated lines in the input will not be detected if they are not adjacent,
so it may be necessary to sort the files first.
.Pp
The following options are available:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Fl c
Precede each output line with the count of the number of times the line
occurred in the input, followed by a single space.
.It Fl d
Don't output lines that are not repeated in the input.
.It Fl f Ar fields
Ignore the first
.Ar fields
in each input line when doing comparisons.
A field is a string of non-blank characters separated from adjacent fields
by blanks.
Field numbers are one based, i.e. the first field is field one.
.It Fl s Ar chars
Ignore the first
.Ar chars
characters in each input line when doing comparisons.
If specified in conjunction with the
.Fl f
option, the first
.Ar chars
characters after the first
.Ar fields
fields will be ignored.
Character numbers are one based, i.e. the first character is character one.
.It Fl u
Don't output lines that are repeated in the input.
.\".It Fl Ns Ar n
.\"(Deprecated; replaced by
.\".Fl f ) .
.\"Ignore the first n
.\"fields on each input line when doing comparisons,
.\"where n is a number.
.\"A field is a string of non-blank
.\"characters separated from adjacent fields
.\"by blanks.
.\".It Cm \&\(pl Ns Ar n
.\"(Deprecated; replaced by
.\".Fl s ) .
.\"Ignore the first
.\".Ar m
.\"characters when doing comparisons, where
.\".Ar m
.\"is a
.\"number.
.El
.Pp
If additional arguments are specified on the command line, the first
such argument is used as the name of an input file, the second is used
as the name of an output file.
.Pp
The
.Nm uniq
utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
.Sh COMPATIBILITY
The historic
.Cm \&\(pl Ns Ar number
and
.Fl Ns Ar number
options have been deprecated but are still supported in this implementation.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr sort 1
.Sh STANDARDS
The
.Nm uniq
utility is expected to be
.St -p1003.2
compatible.
Commit	Line	Data
15637ed4 RG	1	.\" Copyright (c) 1991 Regents of the University of California.
	2	.\" All rights reserved.
	3	.\"
	4	.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
	5	.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
	6	.\"
	7	.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
	8	.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
	9	.\" are met:
	10	.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
	11	.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
	12	.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
	13	.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
	14	.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
	15	.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
	16	.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
	17	.\" This product includes software developed by the University of
	18	.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
	19	.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
	20	.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
	21	.\" without specific prior written permission.
	22	.\"
	23	.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
	24	.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
	25	.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
	26	.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
	27	.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
	28	.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
	29	.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
	30	.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
	31	.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
	32	.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
	33	.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
	34	.\"
b6c14060	35	.\" @(#)uniq.1 6.5 (Berkeley) 1/9/92
15637ed4	36	.\"
b6c14060	37	.Dd January 9, 1992
15637ed4 RG	38	.Dt UNIQ
	39	.Os
	40	.Sh NAME
	41	.Nm uniq
b6c14060	42	.Nd report or filter out repeated lines in a file
15637ed4 RG	43	.Sh SYNOPSIS
	44	.Nm uniq
	45	.Op Fl c \| Fl d \| Fl u
	46	.Op Fl f Ar fields
	47	.Op Fl s Ar chars
	48	.Oo
	49	.Ar input_file
	50	.Op Ar output_file
	51	.Oc
15637ed4 RG	52	.Sh DESCRIPTION
	53	The
	54	.Nm uniq
b6c14060 AM	55	utility reads the standard input comparing adjacent lines, and writes
	56	a copy of each unique input line to the standard output.
	57	The second and succeeding copies of identical adjacent input lines are
	58	not written.
	59	Repeated lines in the input will not be detected if they are not adjacent,
	60	so it may be necessary to sort the files first.
15637ed4 RG	61	.Pp
	62	The following options are available:
	63	.Bl -tag -width Ds
	64	.It Fl c
b6c14060 AM	65	Precede each output line with the count of the number of times the line
b6c14060 AM	66	occurred in the input, followed by a single space.
15637ed4	67	.It Fl d
b6c14060	68	Don't output lines that are not repeated in the input.
15637ed4	69	.It Fl f Ar fields
b6c14060 AM	70	Ignore the first
	71	.Ar fields
	72	in each input line when doing comparisons.
	73	A field is a string of non-blank characters separated from adjacent fields
15637ed4	74	by blanks.
b6c14060	75	Field numbers are one based, i.e. the first field is field one.
15637ed4	76	.It Fl s Ar chars
b6c14060 AM	77	Ignore the first
	78	.Ar chars
	79	characters in each input line when doing comparisons.
15637ed4 RG	80	If specified in conjunction with the
15637ed4 RG	81	.Fl f
b6c14060 AM	82	option, the first
	83	.Ar chars
	84	characters after the first
	85	.Ar fields
	86	fields will be ignored.
	87	Character numbers are one based, i.e. the first character is character one.
15637ed4	88	.It Fl u
b6c14060 AM	89	Don't output lines that are repeated in the input.
	90	.\".It Fl Ns Ar n
	91	.\"(Deprecated; replaced by
	92	.\".Fl f ) .
	93	.\"Ignore the first n
	94	.\"fields on each input line when doing comparisons,
	95	.\"where n is a number.
	96	.\"A field is a string of non-blank
	97	.\"characters separated from adjacent fields
	98	.\"by blanks.
	99	.\".It Cm \&\(pl Ns Ar n
	100	.\"(Deprecated; replaced by
	101	.\".Fl s ) .
	102	.\"Ignore the first
	103	.\".Ar m
	104	.\"characters when doing comparisons, where
	105	.\".Ar m
	106	.\"is a
	107	.\"number.
15637ed4 RG	108	.El
15637ed4 RG	109	.Pp
b6c14060 AM	110	If additional arguments are specified on the command line, the first
	111	such argument is used as the name of an input file, the second is used
	112	as the name of an output file.
15637ed4 RG	113	.Pp
15637ed4 RG	114	The
b6c14060	115	.Nm uniq
15637ed4	116	utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
b6c14060 AM	117	.Sh COMPATIBILITY
	118	The historic
	119	.Cm \&\(pl Ns Ar number
	120	and
	121	.Fl Ns Ar number
	122	options have been deprecated but are still supported in this implementation.
	123	.Sh SEE ALSO
	124	.Xr sort 1
15637ed4 RG	125	.Sh STANDARDS
15637ed4 RG	126	The
b6c14060	127	.Nm uniq
15637ed4 RG	128	utility is expected to be
	129	.St -p1003.2
	130	compatible.