Cmp (Unix)

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cmp is a command line utility for computer systems that use a Unix operating system. It 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 difference occurred is reported.

[edit] Switches

cmp may be qualified by the use of the following switches, (the long versions are in brackets):

• -b (--print-bytes) - Print differing bytes.
• -i SKIP (--ignore-initial=SKIP) - Skip the first SKIP bytes of input.
• -i SKIP1:SKIP2 (--ignore-initial=SKIP1:SKIP2) - Skip the first SKIP1 bytes of FILE1 and the first SKIP2 bytes of FILE2.
• -l (--verbose) - Output byte numbers and values of all differing bytes.
• -n LIMIT (--bytes=LIMIT) - Compare at most LIMIT bytes.
• -s (--quiet --silent) - Output nothing; yield exit status only.
• -v (--version) - Output version info.
• --help - Outputs a help file.

[edit] Return values

• 0 - files are identical
• 1 - files differ
• 2 - inaccessible or missing argument

[edit] See also

• Comparison of file comparison tools
• List of Unix programs

[edit] External links

• Comparing and Merging Files: Invoking cmp The section of the manual of GNU cmp in the diffutils free manual.

Unix command line programs and builtins (more)