<s>
In	O
computing	O
,	O
cmp	B-Application
is	O
a	O
command-line	B-Application
utility	O
on	O
Unix	B-Application
and	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
operating	I-Operating_System
systems	I-Operating_System
that	O
compares	O
two	O
files	B-Operating_System
of	O
any	O
type	O
and	O
writes	O
the	O
results	O
to	O
the	O
standard	O
output	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
default	O
,	O
cmp	B-Application
is	O
silent	O
if	O
the	O
files	B-Operating_System
are	O
the	O
same	O
;	O
if	O
they	O
differ	O
,	O
the	O
byte	B-Application
and	O
line	O
number	O
at	O
which	O
the	O
first	O
difference	O
occurred	O
is	O
reported	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
command	B-Application
is	O
also	O
available	O
in	O
the	O
OS-9	B-Operating_System
shell	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
inherited	O
into	O
the	O
first	O
version	O
of	O
POSIX.1	O
and	O
the	O
Single	O
Unix	B-Application
Specification	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
first	O
appeared	O
in	O
Version	B-Operating_System
1	I-Operating_System
Unix	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
version	O
of	O
cmp	B-Application
bundled	O
in	O
GNU	B-Application
coreutils	I-Application
was	O
written	O
by	O
Torbjorn	O
Granlund	O
and	O
David	O
MacKenzie	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
command	B-Application
is	O
available	O
as	O
a	O
separate	O
package	O
for	O
Microsoft	O
Windows	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
UnxUtils	B-Application
collection	O
of	O
native	B-Language
Win32	B-Library
ports	O
of	O
common	O
GNU	B-Operating_System
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
utilities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
command	B-Application
has	O
also	O
been	O
ported	O
to	O
the	O
IBM	B-Application
i	I-Application
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
cmp	B-Application
may	O
be	O
qualified	O
by	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
command-line	B-Application
switches	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
switches	O
supported	O
by	O
notable	O
implementations	O
of	O
cmp	B-Application
are	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Name	O
Description	O
Unix	B-Application
Plan	B-Operating_System
9	I-Operating_System
Inferno	B-Operating_System
FreeBSD	B-Operating_System
Linux	B-Application
IBM	B-Application
i	I-Application
-b	O
,	O
--print-bytes	O
Print	O
the	O
differing	O
bytes	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Display	O
control	O
bytes	B-Application
as	O
a	O
'	O
^	O
 '	O
followed	O
by	O
a	O
letter	O
of	O
the	O
alphabet	O
and	O
precede	O
bytes	B-Application
that	O
have	O
the	O
high	O
bit	O
set	O
with	O
'	O
M-	O
'	O
(	O
which	O
stands	O
for	O
"	O
meta	O
"	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
-i	O
SKIP	O
,	O
--ignore-initial	O
=	O
SKIP	O
Skip	O
the	O
first	O
SKIP	O
bytes	B-Application
of	O
input	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
-i	O
SKIP1:SKIP2	O
,	O
--ignore-initial	O
=	O
SKIP1:SKIP2	O
Skip	O
the	O
first	O
SKIP1	O
bytes	B-Application
of	O
FILE1	O
and	O
the	O
first	O
SKIP2	O
bytes	B-Application
of	O
FILE2	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
-l	O
,	O
--verbose	O
Output	O
the	O
(	O
decimal	O
)	O
byte	B-Application
numbers	O
and	O
(	O
octal	O
)	O
values	O
of	O
all	O
differing	O
bytes	B-Application
,	O
instead	O
of	O
the	O
default	O
standard	O
output	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
-L	O
Print	O
the	O
line	O
number	O
of	O
the	O
first	O
differing	O
byte	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
-n	O
LIMIT	O
,	O
--bytes	O
=	O
LIMIT	O
Compare	O
at	O
most	O
LIMIT	O
bytes	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
-t	O
Text	O
mode	O
where	O
the	O
files	B-Operating_System
are	O
opened	O
in	O
text	O
mode	O
and	O
translated	O
to	O
the	O
CCSID	O
of	O
the	O
job	O
before	O
comparing	O
byte	B-Application
for	O
byte	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
-x	O
Like	O
-l	O
but	O
prints	O
in	O
hexadecimal	O
and	O
using	O
zero	O
as	O
index	O
for	O
the	O
first	O
byte	B-Application
in	O
the	O
files	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
-z	O
For	O
regular	O
files	B-Operating_System
compare	O
file	O
sizes	O
first	O
,	O
and	O
fail	O
the	O
comparison	O
if	O
they	O
are	O
not	O
equal	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Operands	O
that	O
are	O
byte	B-Application
counts	O
are	O
normally	O
decimal	O
,	O
but	O
may	O
be	O
preceded	O
by	O
'	O
0	O
 '	O
for	O
octal	O
and	O
'	O
0x	O
 '	O
for	O
hexadecimal	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
byte	B-Application
count	O
can	O
be	O
followed	O
by	O
a	O
suffix	O
to	O
specify	O
a	O
multiple	O
of	O
that	O
count	O
;	O
in	O
this	O
case	O
an	O
omitted	O
integer	O
is	O
understood	O
to	O
be	O
1	O
.	O
</s>
