join - Man Page

• Join two files on the first (default) field: join path/to/file1 path/to/file2
• Join two files using a comma (instead of a space) as the field separator: join -t ',' path/to/file1 path/to/file2
• Join field3 of file1 with field1 of file2: join -1 3 -2 1 path/to/file1 path/to/file2
• Produce a line for each unpairable line for file1: join -a 1 path/to/file1 path/to/file2
• Join a file from stdin: cat path/to/file1 | join - path/to/file2

tldr.sh

join [OPTION]... FILE1 FILE2

For each pair of input lines with identical join fields, write a line to standard output.  The default join field is the first, delimited by blanks.

When FILE1 or FILE2 (not both) is -, read standard input.

-a FILENUM

also print unpairable lines from file FILENUM, where FILENUM is 1 or 2, corresponding to FILE1 or FILE2

-e STRING

replace missing (empty) input fields with STRING; I.e., missing fields specified with '-12jo' options

-i,  --ignore-case

ignore differences in case when comparing fields

-j FIELD

equivalent to '-1 FIELD -2 FIELD'

-o FORMAT

obey FORMAT while constructing output line

-t CHAR

use CHAR as input and output field separator

-v FILENUM

like -a FILENUM, but suppress joined output lines

-1 FIELD

join on this FIELD of file 1

-2 FIELD

join on this FIELD of file 2

--check-order

check that the input is correctly sorted, even if all input lines are pairable

--nocheck-order

do not check that the input is correctly sorted

--header

treat the first line in each file as field headers, print them without trying to pair them

-z,  --zero-terminated

line delimiter is NUL, not newline

--help

display this help and exit

--version

output version information and exit

Unless -t CHAR is given, leading blanks separate fields and are ignored, else fields are separated by CHAR.  Any FIELD is a field number counted from 1.  FORMAT is one or more comma or blank separated specifications, each being 'FILENUM.FIELD' or '0'.  Default FORMAT outputs the join field, the remaining fields from FILE1, the remaining fields from FILE2, all separated by CHAR.  If FORMAT is the keyword 'auto', then the first line of each file determines the number of fields output for each line.

Important: FILE1 and FILE2 must be sorted on the join fields. E.g., use "sort -k 1b,1" if 'join' has no options, or use "join -t ''" if 'sort' has no options. Comparisons honor the rules specified by 'LC_COLLATE'. If the input is not sorted and some lines cannot be joined, a warning message will be given.

Written by Mike Haertel.

GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

Copyright © 2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

comm(1), uniq(1)

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/join>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) join invocation'

combine(1), comm(1), mlr(1), uniq(1).