CMP(1)                     Commands and Applications                    CMP(1)

NAME

       cmp - compare two files

SYNOPSIS

       cmp [-l | -s] [ -r ] 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 dif‐
       ference occurred is reported.  Also by default, cmp also considers  the
       resource  forks  of  the  files,  and will make note if only one of the
       files has a resource fork.

       Bytes and lines are numbered beginning with one.

       The following options are available:

       -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.

       -r     Ignore resource forks when comparing.

       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 an
       hexadecimal or octal value by preceding it with  a  leading  ``0x''  or
       ``0''.

       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 output that EOF was reached in the shorter file (before
              any differences were found).

       >1     An error occurred.

SEE ALSO

       diff(1), diff3(1)

HISTORY

       The cmp command for GNO/ME v2.0.6 is based on FreeBSD source code.



GNO                            28 September 1997                        CMP(1)