xref: /netbsd-src/usr.bin/join/join.1 (revision f3cfa6f6ce31685c6c4a758bc430e69eb99f50a4)
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33.\"	from: @(#)join.1	8.3 (Berkeley) 4/28/95
34.\"
35.Dd April 28, 1995
36.Dt JOIN 1
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm join
40.Nd relational database operator
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm
43.Op Fl a Ar file_number | Fl v Ar file_number
44.Op Fl e Ar string
45.Op Fl j Ar file_number field
46.Op Fl o Ar list
47.Op Fl t Ar char
48.Op Fl \&1 Ar field
49.Op Fl \&2 Ar field
50.Ar file1 file2
51.Sh DESCRIPTION
52The join utility performs an ``equality join'' on the specified files
53and writes the result to the standard output.
54The ``join field'' is the field in each file by which the files are compared.
55The first field in each line is used by default.
56There is one line in the output for each pair of lines in
57.Ar file1
58and
59.Ar file2
60which have identical join fields.
61Each output line consists of the join field, the remaining fields from
62.Ar file1
63and then the remaining fields from
64.Ar file2 .
65.Pp
66The default field separators are tab and space characters.
67In this case, multiple tabs and spaces count as a single field separator,
68and leading tabs and spaces are ignored.
69The default output field separator is a single space character.
70.Pp
71Many of the options use file and field numbers.
72Both file numbers and field numbers are 1 based, i.e. the first file on
73the command line is file number 1 and the first field is field number 1.
74The following options are available:
75.Bl -tag -width Fl
76.It Fl a Ar file_number
77In addition to the default output, produce a line for each unpairable
78line in file
79.Ar file_number .
80(The argument to
81.Fl a
82must not be preceded by a space; see the
83.Sx COMPATIBILITY
84section.)
85.It Fl e Ar string
86Replace empty output fields with
87.Ar string .
88.It Fl o Ar list
89The
90.Fl o
91option specifies the fields that will be output from each file for
92each line with matching join fields.
93Each element of
94.Ar list
95has the form
96.Ql file_number.field ,
97where
98.Ar file_number
99is a file number and
100.Ar field
101is a field number.
102The elements of list must be either comma (``,'') or whitespace separated.
103(The latter requires quoting to protect it from the shell, or, a simpler
104approach is to use multiple
105.Fl o
106options.)
107.It Fl t Ar char
108Use character
109.Ar char
110as a field delimiter for both input and output.
111Every occurrence of
112.Ar char
113in a line is significant.
114.It Fl v Ar file_number
115Do not display the default output, but display a line for each unpairable
116line in file
117.Ar file_number .
118The options
119.Fl v Ar 1
120and
121.Fl v Ar 2
122may be specified at the same time.
123.It Fl 1 Ar field
124Join on the
125.Ar field Ns 'th
126field of file 1.
127.It Fl 2 Ar field
128Join on the
129.Ar field Ns 'th
130field of file 2.
131.El
132.Pp
133When the default field delimiter characters are used, the files to be joined
134should be ordered in the collating sequence of
135.Xr sort 1 ,
136using the
137.Fl b
138option, on the fields on which they are to be joined, otherwise
139.Nm
140may not report all field matches.
141When the field delimiter characters are specified by the
142.Fl t
143option, the collating sequence should be the same as
144.Xr sort 1
145without the
146.Fl b
147option.
148.Pp
149If one of the arguments
150.Ar file1
151or
152.Ar file2
153is ``-'', the standard input is used.
154.Sh EXIT STATUS
155.Ex -std join
156.Sh COMPATIBILITY
157For compatibility with historic versions of
158.Nm ,
159the following options are available:
160.Bl -tag -width Fl
161.It Fl a
162In addition to the default output, produce a line for each unpairable line
163in both file 1 and file 2.
164(To distinguish between this and
165.Fl a Ar file_number ,
166.Nm
167currently requires that the latter not include any white space.)
168.It Fl j1 Ar field
169Join on the
170.Ar field Ns 'th
171field of file 1.
172.It Fl j2 Ar field
173Join on the
174.Ar field Ns 'th
175field of file 2.
176.It Fl j Ar field
177Join on the
178.Ar field Ns 'th
179field of both file 1 and file 2.
180.It Fl o Ar list ...
181Historical implementations of
182.Nm
183permitted multiple arguments to the
184.Fl o
185option.
186These arguments were of the form ``file_number.field_number'' as described
187for the current
188.Fl o
189option.
190This has obvious difficulties in the presence of files named ``1.2''.
191.El
192.Pp
193These options are available only so historic shell scripts don't require
194modification and should not be used.
195.Sh SEE ALSO
196.Xr awk 1 ,
197.Xr comm 1 ,
198.Xr paste 1 ,
199.Xr sort 1 ,
200.Xr uniq 1
201.Sh STANDARDS
202The
203.Nm
204command is expected to be
205.St -p1003.2
206compatible.
207