cmp
compare two files
TLDR
Output char and line number of the first difference between two files
Output info of the first difference: char, line number, bytes, and values
Output the byte numbers and values of every difference
Compare files but output nothing, yield only the exit status
SYNOPSIS
cmp [OPTION]... FILE1 [FILE2 [SKIP1 [SKIP2]]]
DESCRIPTION
Compare two files byte by byte.
The optional SKIP1 and SKIP2 specify the number of bytes to skip at the beginning of each file (zero by default).
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
- -b, --print-bytes
-
print differing bytes
- -i, --ignore-initial=SKIP
-
skip first SKIP bytes of both inputs
- -i, --ignore-initial=SKIP1:SKIP2
-
skip first SKIP1 bytes of FILE1 and first SKIP2 bytes of FILE2
- -l, --verbose
-
output byte numbers and differing byte values
- -n, --bytes=LIMIT
-
compare at most LIMIT bytes
- -s, --quiet, --silent
-
suppress all normal output
- --help
-
display this help and exit
- -v, --version
-
output version information and exit
SKIP values may be followed by the following multiplicative suffixes: kB 1000, K 1024, MB 1,000,000, M 1,048,576, GB 1,000,000,000, G 1,073,741,824, and so on for T, P, E, Z, Y.
If a FILE is '-' or missing, read standard input. Exit status is 0 if inputs are the same, 1 if different, 2 if trouble.
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to: bug-diffutils@gnu.org
GNU diffutils home page:
<https://www.gnu.org/software/diffutils/>
General help using GNU software:
<https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU
GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There
is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
SEE ALSO
diff(1), diff3(1), sdiff(1) The full documentation for cmp is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and cmp programs are properly installed at your site, the command info cmp should give you access to the complete manual.
AUTHOR
Written by Torbjorn Granlund and David MacKenzie.