Mac OS X in a Nutshell

Name

paste

Synopsis

paste [options] files
                  

Merges corresponding lines of one or more files into vertical columns, separated by a tab. See also cut, join, and pr.

Options

-

Replace a filename with the standard input.

-d'char'

Separate columns with char instead of a tab. char can be any regular character or the following escape sequences:

You can separate columns with different characters by supplying more than one char.

\n

Newline

\t

Tab

\

Backslash

\0

Empty string

-s

Merge subsequent lines from one file.

Examples

Create a three-column file from files x, y, and z:

                     paste x y z > file

List users in two columns:

                     who | paste - -

Merge each pair of lines into one line:

                     paste -s -d"\t\n" list