CMP(1) BSD General Commands Manual CMP(1)NAMEcmp — compare two files
SYNOPSIScmp [-l | -s | -x] [-hz] 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:
-h Do not follow symbolic links.
-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.
-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 compari‐
son if they are not equal.
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 hexa‐
decimal or octal value by preceding it with a leading ``0x'' or ``0''.
EXIT STATUS
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 ALSOdiff(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 December 19, 2006 BSD
