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COMBINE(1)                                                           COMBINE(1)

NAME
       combine - combine sets of lines from two files using boolean operations

SYNOPSIS
       combine file1 and file2

       combine file1 not file2

       combine file1 or file2

       combine file1 xor file2

       _ file1 and file2 _

       _ file1 not file2 _

       _ file1 or file2 _

       _ file1 xor file2 _

DESCRIPTION
       combine combines the lines in two files. Depending on the boolean
       operation specified, the contents will be combined in different ways:

       and Outputs lines that are in file1 if they are also present in file2.

       not Outputs lines that are in file1 but not in file2.

       or  Outputs lines that are in file1 or file2.

       xor Outputs  lines  that  are  in either file1 or file2, but not in both
           files.

       "-" can be specified for either file to read stdin for that file.

       The input files need not be sorted, and the  lines  are  output  in  the
       order they occur in file1 (followed by the order they occur in file2 for
       the  two  "or"  operations).  Bear  in  mind  that  this  means that the
       operations are not commutative; "a and b" will not  necessarily  be  the
       same  as  "b  and  a".  To obtain commutative behavior sort and uniq the
       result.

       Note that this program  can  be  installed  as  "_"  to  allow  for  the
       syntactic sugar shown in the latter half of the synopsis (similar to the
       test/[  command).  It  is not currently installed as "_" by default, but
       you can alias it to that if you like.

SEE ALSO
       join(1)

AUTHOR
       Copyright 2006 by Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>

       Licensed under the GNU GPL.

moreutils                          2024-02-25                        COMBINE(1)

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