usr/src/usr.bin/cmp/cmp.1

.\" Copyright (c) 1987, 1990 The Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" %sccs.include.redist.man%
.\"
.\"     @(#)cmp.1       6.4 (Berkeley) %G%
.\"
.Dd
.Dt CMP 1
.Os BSD 4.4
.Sh NAME
.Nm cmp
.Nd compare two files
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm cmp
.Op Fl l Li \&| Fl s
.Ar file1 file2
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The cmp utility compares two files of any type and
writes the results to the standard output.
Under default options,
.Nm
is silent
if the files are the same; if they
differ, the byte and line
number at which the first difference occurred is reported.
Bytes and
lines are numbered beginning with one.
.Pp
The following options are available:
.Tw Ds
.Tp Fl l
Print the byte number (decimal) and the differing
byte values (octal) for each difference, respectively.
.Tp Fl s
Print nothing for differing files; return exit
status only.
.Tp
.Pp
The following operands are available:
.Tw file1
.Tp Ar file1
A pathname of the first file to be compared.
If
.Ar file1
is
.Sq Fl ,
the standard input is used.
.Tp Ar file2
A pathname of the second file to be compared.
.Tp
.Pp
The
.Nm cmp
utility exits with one of the following values:
.Tw Ds
.Tp 0
The files are identical.
.Tp 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
.Fl s
option has
not been specified, cmp writes to standard error
that EOF was reached in the shorter file (before
any differences were found).
.Tp >1
An error occurred.
.Tp
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr diff 1 ,
.Xr diff3 1
.Sh STANDARDS
The
.Nm cmp
function is expected to be POSIX 1003.2 compatible.
This manual page is derived from the POSIX 1003.2 manual page.