Name
cmp
Synopsis
cmp [options
]file file2
[skip1
[skip2
]]
Compares file1
with
file2
. Use standard input if
file1
or file2
is - . To begin the comparison from byte offsets other than at the
beginning of the files, use the optional arguments
skip1
and
skip2
, which specify the byte offsets from
the beginning of each file. By default, the value is decimal. To use
hexadecimal or octal values, precede them with a leading
0x
or 0
, respectively. See also
comm
and diff
. The exit codes
are as follows:
-
0
Files are identical.
-
1
Files are different.
-
2
Files are inaccessible.
Options
-
-c
,--print-chars
Print differing bytes as characters.
-
-i
N
,--ignore-initial=
N
Ignore differences in the first
N
bytes of input.-
-l
For each difference, print the byte number in decimal and the differing bytes in octal.
-
-s
Work silently; print nothing, but return exit codes.
-
-v
,--version
Output version info.
Example
Print a message if two files are the same (exit code is 0):
$ cmp -s old new && echo 'no changes'
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