PASTE(1)                  USER COMMANDS                  PASTE(1)



NAME
     paste - merge same lines  of  several  files  or  subsequent
     lines of one file

SYNOPSIS
     paste file1 file2 ...
     paste -dlist file1 file2 ...
     paste -s [-dlist] file1 file2 ...

DESCRIPTION
     In the first two  forms,  _p_a_s_t_e  concatenates  corresponding
     lines of the given input files _f_i_l_e_1, _f_i_l_e_2, etc.  It treats
     each file as a column or columns of a table and pastes  them
     together  horizontally  (parallel merging).  If you will, it
     is the counterpart of _c_a_t(1) which concatenates  vertically,
     i.e.,  one  file  after  the other.  In the last form above,
     _p_a_s_t_e replaces the function of an  older  command  with  the
     same  name  by  combining subsequent lines of the input file
     (serial merging).  In all cases, lines  are  glued  together
     with  the  _t_a_b character, or with characters from an option-
     ally specified _l_i_s_t.  Output is to the standard  output,  so
     it  can be used as the start of a pipe, or as a filter, if -
     is used in place of a file name.

     The meanings of the options are:

     -d   Without this option, the new-line  characters  of  each
          but  the  last  file  (or  last  line in case of the -s
          option) are replaced by a _t_a_b character.   This  option
          allows  replacing  the  _t_a_b  character  by  one or more
          alternate characters (see below).

     _l_i_s_t One or more characters immediately following -d replace
          the  default  _t_a_b  as the line concatenation character.
          The list is used circularly, i.e., when  exhausted,  it
          is  reused.   In parallel merging (i.e., no -s option),
          the lines from the last file are always terminated with
          a  new-line character, not from the _l_i_s_t.  The list may
          contain the special escape sequences: \n (new-line), \t
          (tab), \\ (backslash), and \0 (empty string, not a null
          character).  Quoting may be  necessary,  if  characters
          have  special  meaning  to  the shell (e.g., to get one
          backslash, use "" -_d"_\_\_\_\" ).

     -s   Merge subsequent lines rather than one from each  input
          file.   Use  _t_a_b  for  concatenation,  unless a _l_i_s_t is
          specified with -d option.  Regardless of the _l_i_s_t,  the
          very  last character of the file is forced to be a new-
          line.

     -    May be used in place of any file name, to read  a  line
          from the standard input.  (There is no prompting).



Sun Release 3.2           Last change:                          1






PASTE(1)                  USER COMMANDS                  PASTE(1)



EXAMPLES
     ls | paste -d" " -
                    list directory in one column

     ls | paste - - - -
                    list directory in four columns

     paste -s -d"\t\n" file
                    combine pairs of lines into lines

SEE ALSO
     cut(1), grep(1), pr(1).











































Sun Release 3.2           Last change:                          2