#Name

cmp - compare files

#Synopsis

$ cmp [options...] file1 file2

#Description

Compare two files and report the location of any differences. By default, execution stops after the first difference, but this can be overridden (see --verbose option). Byte and line numbers start at 1.

#Options

• --help: Display help message and exit
• -l, --verbose: Output the byte number, and the differing bytes, for every difference.
• -s, --silent: Silence output.

#Arguments

• file1 and file2: Files to compare. Use - as the file name to read from standard input.

#Exit status

• 0 - Files are identical.
• 1 - Files are different.
• 2 - An error occurred.

#See also

• comm(1)