lam(1)

NAME

lam - laminate files

SYNOPSIS

lam [-f min.max] [-s sepstring] [-t c] file ...
lam [-p min.max] [-s sepstring] [-t c] file ...

DESCRIPTION

The lam utility copies the named files side by side onto the

standard
output. The n-th input lines from the input files are con

sidered fragments of the single long n-th output line into which they

are assembled.
The name `-' means the standard input, and may be repeated.

Normally, each option affects only the file after it. If

the option letter is capitalized it affects all subsequent files until it

appears again
uncapitalized. The options are described below:

-f min.max

Print line fragments according to the format string

min.max,
where min is the minimum field width and max the

maximum field
width. If min begins with a zero, zeros will be

added to make up
the field width, and if it begins with a `-', the

fragment will
be left-adjusted within the field.

-p min.max

Like -f, but pad this file's field when end-of-file

is reached
and other files are still active.

-s sepstring

Print sepstring before printing line fragments from

the next
file. This option may appear after the last file.

-t c The input line terminator is c instead of a newline.

The newline

normally appended to each output line is omitted.

To print files simultaneously for easy viewing use pr(1).

EXAMPLES

The command

lam file1 file2 file3 file4

joins 4 files together along each line. To merge the lines

from four
different files use

lam file1 -S " " file2 file3 file4

Every 2 lines of a file may be joined on one line with

lam - - < file

and a form letter with substitutions keyed by `@' can be

done with

lam -t @ letter changes

SEE ALSO

join(1), paste(1), pr(1), printf(3)

STANDARDS

Some of the functionality of lam is standardized as the

paste(1) utility
by IEEE Std 1003.2 (``POSIX.2'').

BUGS

The lam utility does not recognize multibyte characters.

BSD August 12, 2004

BSD