xref: /netbsd-src/usr.bin/join/join.1 (revision f14316bcbc544b96a93e884bc5c2b15fd60e22ae)
1.\"	$NetBSD: join.1,v 1.13 2012/04/08 22:00:39 wiz Exp $
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33.\"	from: @(#)join.1	8.3 (Berkeley) 4/28/95
34.\"	$NetBSD: join.1,v 1.13 2012/04/08 22:00:39 wiz Exp $
35.\"
36.Dd April 28, 1995
37.Dt JOIN 1
38.Os
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm join
41.Nd relational database operator
42.Sh SYNOPSIS
43.Nm
44.Op Fl a Ar file_number | Fl v Ar file_number
45.Op Fl e Ar string
46.Op Fl j Ar file_number field
47.Op Fl o Ar list
48.Op Fl t Ar char
49.Op Fl \&1 Ar field
50.Op Fl \&2 Ar field
51.Ar file1 file2
52.Sh DESCRIPTION
53The join utility performs an ``equality join'' on the specified files
54and writes the result to the standard output.
55The ``join field'' is the field in each file by which the files are compared.
56The first field in each line is used by default.
57There is one line in the output for each pair of lines in
58.Ar file1
59and
60.Ar file2
61which have identical join fields.
62Each output line consists of the join field, the remaining fields from
63.Ar file1
64and then the remaining fields from
65.Ar file2 .
66.Pp
67The default field separators are tab and space characters.
68In this case, multiple tabs and spaces count as a single field separator,
69and leading tabs and spaces are ignored.
70The default output field separator is a single space character.
71.Pp
72Many of the options use file and field numbers.
73Both file numbers and field numbers are 1 based, i.e. the first file on
74the command line is file number 1 and the first field is field number 1.
75The following options are available:
76.Bl -tag -width Fl
77.It Fl a Ar file_number
78In addition to the default output, produce a line for each unpairable
79line in file
80.Ar file_number .
81(The argument to
82.Fl a
83must not be preceded by a space; see the
84.Sx COMPATIBILITY
85section.)
86.It Fl e Ar string
87Replace empty output fields with
88.Ar string .
89.It Fl o Ar list
90The
91.Fl o
92option specifies the fields that will be output from each file for
93each line with matching join fields.
94Each element of
95.Ar list
96has the form
97.Ql file_number.field ,
98where
99.Ar file_number
100is a file number and
101.Ar field
102is a field number.
103The elements of list must be either comma (``,'') or whitespace separated.
104(The latter requires quoting to protect it from the shell, or, a simpler
105approach is to use multiple
106.Fl o
107options.)
108.It Fl t Ar char
109Use character
110.Ar char
111as a field delimiter for both input and output.
112Every occurrence of
113.Ar char
114in a line is significant.
115.It Fl v Ar file_number
116Do not display the default output, but display a line for each unpairable
117line in file
118.Ar file_number .
119The options
120.Fl v Ar 1
121and
122.Fl v Ar 2
123may be specified at the same time.
124.It Fl 1 Ar field
125Join on the
126.Ar field Ns 'th
127field of file 1.
128.It Fl 2 Ar field
129Join on the
130.Ar field Ns 'th
131field of file 2.
132.El
133.Pp
134When the default field delimiter characters are used, the files to be joined
135should be ordered in the collating sequence of
136.Xr sort 1 ,
137using the
138.Fl b
139option, on the fields on which they are to be joined, otherwise
140.Nm
141may not report all field matches.
142When the field delimiter characters are specified by the
143.Fl t
144option, the collating sequence should be the same as
145.Xr sort 1
146without the
147.Fl b
148option.
149.Pp
150If one of the arguments
151.Ar file1
152or
153.Ar file2
154is ``-'', the standard input is used.
155.Pp
156The
157.Nm
158utility exits 0 on success, and \*[Gt]0 if an error occurs.
159.Sh COMPATIBILITY
160For compatibility with historic versions of
161.Nm ,
162the following options are available:
163.Bl -tag -width Fl
164.It Fl a
165In addition to the default output, produce a line for each unpairable line
166in both file 1 and file 2.
167(To distinguish between this and
168.Fl a Ar file_number ,
169.Nm
170currently requires that the latter not include any white space.)
171.It Fl j1 Ar field
172Join on the
173.Ar field Ns 'th
174field of file 1.
175.It Fl j2 Ar field
176Join on the
177.Ar field Ns 'th
178field of file 2.
179.It Fl j Ar field
180Join on the
181.Ar field Ns 'th
182field of both file 1 and file 2.
183.It Fl o Ar list ...
184Historical implementations of
185.Nm
186permitted multiple arguments to the
187.Fl o
188option.
189These arguments were of the form ``file_number.field_number'' as described
190for the current
191.Fl o
192option.
193This has obvious difficulties in the presence of files named ``1.2''.
194.El
195.Pp
196These options are available only so historic shell scripts don't require
197modification and should not be used.
198.Sh SEE ALSO
199.Xr awk 1 ,
200.Xr comm 1 ,
201.Xr paste 1 ,
202.Xr sort 1 ,
203.Xr uniq 1
204.Sh STANDARDS
205The
206.Nm
207command is expected to be
208.St -p1003.2
209compatible.
210