man/cat1p/join.1p.txt

join(P) join(P)
 
 
 
 
 
NAME
       join - relational database operator
 
SYNOPSIS
       join [-a file_number | -v file_number][-e string][-o
       list][-t char]
               [-1 field][-2 field] file1 file2
 
DESCRIPTION
       The join utility shall perform an equality join on the
       files file1 and file2. The joined files shall be written
       to the standard output.
 
       The join field is a field in each file on which the
       files are compared. The join utility shall write one
       line in the output for each pair of lines in file1 and
       file2 that have identical join fields. The output line
       by default shall consist of the join field, then the
       remaining fields from file1, then the remaining fields
       from file2. This format can be changed by using the -o
       option (see below). The -a option can be used to add
       unmatched lines to the output. The -v option can be
       used to output only unmatched lines.
 
       The files file1 and file2 shall be ordered in the col-
       lating sequence of sort -b on the fields on which they
       shall be joined, by default the first in each line. All
       selected output shall be written in the same collating
       sequence.
 
       The default input field separators shall be <blank>s. In
       this case, multiple separators shall count as one field
       separator, and leading separators shall be ignored. The
       default output field separator shall be a <space>.
 
       The field separator and collating sequence can be
       changed by using the -t option (see below).
 
       If the same key appears more than once in either file,
       all combinations of the set of remaining fields in file1
       and the set of remaining fields in file2 are output in
       the order of the lines encountered.
 
       If the input files are not in the appropriate collating
       sequence, the results are unspecified.
 
OPTIONS
       The join utility shall conform to the Base Definitions
       volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 12.2, Utility
       Syntax Guidelines.
 
       The following options shall be supported:
 
       -a file_number
 
              Produce a line for each unpairable line in file
              file_number, where file_number is 1 or 2, in
              addition to the default output. If both -a1 and
              -a2 are specified, all unpairable lines shall be
              output.
 
       -e string
              Replace empty output fields in the list selected
              by -o with the string string.
 
       -o list
              Construct the output line to comprise the fields
              specified in list, each element of which shall
              have one of the following two forms:
 
       file_number.field, where file_number is a file number
       and field is a decimal integer field number
 
       0 (zero), representing the join field
 
       The elements of list shall be either comma-separated or
       <blank>-separated, as specified in Guideline 8 of the
       Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section
       12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines. The fields specified by
       list shall be written for all selected output lines.
       Fields selected by list that do not appear in the input
       shall be treated as empty output fields. (See the -e
       option.) Only specifically requested fields shall be
       written. The application shall ensure that list is a
       single command line argument.
 
       -t char
              Use character char as a separator, for both input
              and output. Every appearance of char in a line
              shall be significant. When this option is speci-
              fied, the collating sequence shall be the same as
              sort without the -b option.
 
       -v file_number
 
              Instead of the default output, produce a line
              only for each unpairable line in file_number,
              where file_number is 1 or 2. If both -v1 and -v2
              are specified, all unpairable lines shall be out-
              put.
 
       -1 field
              Join on the fieldth field of file 1. Fields are
              decimal integers starting with 1.
 
       -2 field
              Join on the fieldth field of file 2. Fields are
              decimal integers starting with 1.
 
 
OPERANDS
       The following operands shall be supported:
 
       file1, file2
              A pathname of a file to be joined. If either of
              the file1 or file2 operands is '-' , the standard
              input shall be used in its place.
 
 
STDIN
       The standard input shall be used only if the file1 or
       file2 operand is '-' . See the INPUT FILES section.
 
INPUT FILES
       The input files shall be text files.
 
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       The following environment variables shall affect the
       execution of join:
 
       LANG Provide a default value for the internationaliza-
              tion variables that are unset or null. (See the
              Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,
              Section 8.2, Internationalization Variables for
              the precedence of internationalization variables
              used to determine the values of locale cate-
              gories.)
 
       LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, override the
              values of all the other internationalization
              variables.
 
       LC_COLLATE
 
              Determine the locale of the collating sequence
              join expects to have been used when the input
              files were sorted.
 
       LC_CTYPE
              Determine the locale for the interpretation of
              sequences of bytes of text data as characters
              (for example, single-byte as opposed to multi-
              byte characters in arguments and input files).
 
       LC_MESSAGES
              Determine the locale that should be used to
              affect the format and contents of diagnostic mes-
              sages written to standard error.
 
       NLSPATH
              Determine the location of message catalogs for
              the processing of LC_MESSAGES .
 
 
ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
       Default.
 
STDOUT
       The join utility output shall be a concatenation of
       selected character fields. When the -o option is not
       specified, the output shall be:
 
 
              "%s%s%s\n", <join field>, <other file1 fields>,
                  <other file2 fields>
 
       If the join field is not the first field in a file, the
       <other file fields> for that file shall be:
 
 
              <fields preceding join field>, <fields following join field>
 
       When the -o option is specified, the output format shall
       be:
 
 
              "%s\n", <concatenation of fields>
 
       where the concatenation of fields is described by the -o
       option, above.
 
       For either format, each field (except the last) shall be
       written with its trailing separator character. If the
       separator is the default ( <blank>s), a single <space>
       shall be written after each field (except the last).
 
STDERR
       The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic
       messages.
 
OUTPUT FILES
       None.
 
EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
       None.
 
EXIT STATUS
       The following exit values shall be returned:
 
        0 All input files were output successfully.
 
       >0 An error occurred.
 
 
CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
       Default.
 
       The following sections are informative.
 
APPLICATION USAGE
       Pathnames consisting of numeric digits or of the form
       string.string should not be specified directly following
       the -o list.
 
EXAMPLES
       The -o 0 field essentially selects the union of the join
       fields. For example, given file phone:
 
 
              !Name Phone Number
              Don +1 123-456-7890
              Hal +1 234-567-8901
              Yasushi +2 345-678-9012
 
       and file fax:
 
 
              !Name Fax Number
              Don +1 123-456-7899
              Keith +1 456-789-0122
              Yasushi +2 345-678-9011
 
       (where the large expanses of white space are meant to
       each represent a single <tab>), the command:
 
 
              join -t "<tab>" -a 1 -a 2 -e '(unknown)' -o 0,1.2,2.2 phone fax
 
       would produce:
 
 
              !Name Phone Number Fax Number
              Don +1 123-456-7890 +1 123-456-7899
              Hal +1 234-567-8901 (unknown)
              Keith (unknown) +1 456-789-0122
              Yasushi +2 345-678-9012 +2 345-678-9011
 
       Multiple instances of the same key will produce combina-
       torial results. The following:
 
 
              fa:
                  a x
                  a y
                  a z
              fb:
                  a p
 
       will produce:
 
 
              a x p
              a y p
              a z p
 
       And the following:
 
 
              fa:
                  a b c
                  a d e
              fb:
                  a w x
                  a y z
                  a o p
 
       will produce:
 
 
              a b c w x
              a b c y z
              a b c o p
              a d e w x
              a d e y z
              a d e o p
 
RATIONALE
       The -e option is only effective when used with -o
       because, unless specific fields are identified using -o,
       join is not aware of what fields might be empty. The
       exception to this is the join field, but identifying an
       empty join field with the -e string is not historical
       practice and some scripts might break if this were
       changed.
 
       The 0 field in the -o list was adopted from the Tenth
       Edition version of join to satisfy international objec-
       tions that the join in the base documents does not sup-
       port the "full join" or "outer join" described in rela-
       tional database literature. Although it has been possi-
       ble to include a join field in the output (by default,
       or by field number using -o), the join field could not
       be included for an unpaired line selected by -a. The -o
       0 field essentially selects the union of the join
       fields.
 
       This sort of outer join was not possible with the join
       commands in the base documents. The -o 0 field was cho-
       sen because it is an upwards-compatible change for
       applications. An alternative was considered: have the
       join field represent the union of the fields in the
       files (where they are identical for matched lines, and
       one or both are null for unmatched lines). This was not
       adopted because it would break some historical applica-
       tions.
 
       The ability to specify file2 as - is not historical
       practice; it was added for completeness.
 
       The -v option is not historical practice, but was con-
       sidered necessary because it permitted the writing of
       only those lines that do not match on the join field, as
       opposed to the -a option, which prints both lines that
       do and do not match. This additional facility is paral-
       lel with the -v option of grep.
 
       Some historical implementations have been encountered
       where a blank line in one of the input files was consid-
       ered to be the end of the file; the description in this
       volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not cite this as an
       allowable case.
 
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
       None.
 
SEE ALSO
       awk , comm , sort , uniq
 
COPYRIGHT
       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in
       electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition,
       Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operat-
       ing System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Speci-
       fications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Insti-
       tute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and
       The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between
       this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group
       Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
       is the referee document. The original Standard can be
       obtained online at http://www.open-
       group.org/unix/online.html .
 
 
 
POSIX 2003 join(P)