Compare two sorted files line by line Shows lines unique to each file and lines common to both.

LOW risk. Read-only; inputs must be sorted.

comm

Compare two sorted files line by line

low risk

interactive breakdown — edit the command and press Explain

What it does

Shows lines unique to each file and lines common to both.

Common flags

Flag	Meaning
`-12`	Show only common lines
`-23`	Show lines only in file 1

Examples

comm -23 <(sort a) <(sort b)Lines in a but not in b · explain & risk-check →

Reference text is hand-written and may be incomplete — check man comm for your version. Test destructive commands on a non-production system first.