COMM(1)

📦 version 0.12.0, in arch rolling

💖 COMM(1) — General Commands Manual, but make it cute 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to the General Commands Manual entry for comm, aka COMM(1) — she compares sorted files and she ate. 💅✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

comm — compare two sorted files line by line. Periodt. 💖

When FILE1 or FILE2 (not both) is -, read standard input. No cap, that little dash is the stdin moment. ✨

With no options, produce three-column output. Column one contains lines unique to FILE1, column two contains lines unique to FILE2, and column three contains lines common to both files. It’s giving organized, lowkey iconic. 🎀

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

comm [OPTION]... FILE1 FILE2

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

Compare two sorted files line by line. That’s the whole vibe, bestie. 🫶

When FILE1 or FILE2 (not both) is -, read standard input. Literally one of them can be -, but not both — keep it balanced. 🌈

With no options, produce three-column output. Column one contains lines unique to FILE1, column two contains lines unique to FILE2, and column three contains lines common to both files. Three columns, zero chaos. 💅

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • -1 — suppress column 1 (lines unique to FILE1). Bye-bye, first column. 👋
  • -2 — suppress column 2 (lines unique to FILE2). Column two? Not today. 🙈
  • -3 — suppress column 3 (lines that appear in both files). The shared lines are getting muted. 🔇
  • --output-delimiter <STR> — separate columns with STR. Pick your separator, make it cute. 🎀
  • -z, --zero-terminated — line delimiter is NUL, not newline. NGL, very NUL of her. 💀
  • --total — output a summary. She’s giving receipts. 🧾
  • --check-order — check that the input is correctly sorted, even if all input lines are pairable. Safety first, bestie. 🔥
  • --nocheck-order — do not check that the input is correctly sorted. Living dangerously, I see. 😭
  • -h, --help — Print help. The classic “help me help you.” 🫶
  • -V, --version — Print version. Version check, slay. 👑
  • <FILE1> — the first file slot, bestie. Feed her a sorted file, or - for standard input if FILE2 isn’t also -. 🌸
  • <FILE2> — the second file slot. Same energy: sorted file, or - for standard input if FILE1 isn’t also -. 🦋

👑 VERSION 👑

v(uutils coreutils) 0.12.0 — that’s the version, bestie. 💖

xoxo, your terminal bestie 💅 — signed off by the v(uutils coreutils) girlies, version 0.12.0, dated 2026-09-17 ✨🎀

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