cmp

NAME

cmp - compare two files

SYNOPSIS

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

DESCRIPTION

The cmp(1) utility compares two files of any type and writes the results to the standard output. By default, cmp(1) 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.

If either file1 or file2 is specified as a hyphen (-), cmp(1) compares the other named file with standard input.

OPTIONS

-l
Print the byte number (decimal) and the differing byte values (octal) for each difference.
-s
Print nothing for differing files; return exit status only.

The optional arguments skip1 and skip2 are the byte offsets from the beginning of file1 and file2, respectively, where the comparison will begin. The offset is decimal by default, but may be expressed as a hexadecimal or octal value by preceding the value with a leading 0x or 0.

DIAGNOSTICS

The cmp(1) utility exits with one of the following values:
0
The files are identical.
1
The files are different. This value is given even when one file is identical to the first part of the other. In this case, if the -s option has not been specified, cmp(1) writes to standard output that the end of file (EOF) was reached in the shorter file before any differences were found.
>1
An error occurred.

SEE ALSO

comm(1)

diff(1)