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NAME

       join - relational database operator

SYNOPSIS

       join [-a file_number | -v file_number][-e string][-o list][-t char]
               [-1 field][-2 field] file1 file2

DESCRIPTION

       The  join  utility shall perform an equality join on the files file1 and file2. The joined
       files shall be written to the standard output.

       The join field is a field in each file on which the files are compared.  The join  utility
       shall  write  one  line  in the output for each pair of lines in file1 and file2 that have
       identical join fields. The output line by default shall consist of the  join  field,  then
       the  remaining fields from file1, then the remaining fields from file2. This format can be
       changed by using the -o option (see below). The -a option can be  used  to  add  unmatched
       lines to the output.  The -v option can be used to output only unmatched lines.

       The  files  file1  and  file2 shall be ordered in the collating sequence of sort -b on the
       fields on which they shall be joined, by default the first in  each  line.   All  selected
       output shall be written in the same collating sequence.

       The  default  input  field separators shall be <blank>s. In this case, multiple separators
       shall count as one field separator, and leading separators shall be ignored.  The  default
       output field separator shall be a <space>.

       The  field  separator  and  collating  sequence can be changed by using the -t option (see
       below).

       If the same key appears more than once in either file, all  combinations  of  the  set  of
       remaining fields in file1 and the set of remaining fields in file2 are output in the order
       of the lines encountered.

       If the input files are  not  in  the  appropriate  collating  sequence,  the  results  are
       unspecified.

OPTIONS

       The  join  utility  shall  conform to the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,
       Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines.

       The following options shall be supported:

       -a  file_number

              Produce a line for each unpairable line in file file_number, where file_number is 1
              or  2,  in  addition  to the default output. If both -a1 and -a2 are specified, all
              unpairable lines shall be output.

       -e  string
              Replace empty output fields in the list selected by -o with the string string.

       -o  list
              Construct the output line to comprise the fields specified in list, each element of
              which shall have one of the following two forms:

               1. file_number.field,  where  file_number  is a file number and field is a decimal
                  integer field number

               2. 0 (zero), representing the join field

       The elements of list shall be either comma-separated or <blank>-separated, as specified in
       Guideline  8 of the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 12.2, Utility
       Syntax Guidelines. The fields specified by list shall be written for all  selected  output
       lines.  Fields  selected by list that do not appear in the input shall be treated as empty
       output fields.  (See the -e option.) Only specifically requested fields shall be  written.
       The application shall ensure that list is a single command line argument.

       -t  char
              Use  character char as a separator, for both input and output.  Every appearance of
              char in a line shall be significant. When this option is specified,  the  collating
              sequence shall be the same as sort without the -b option.

       -v  file_number

              Instead  of  the  default  output,  produce a line only for each unpairable line in
              file_number, where file_number is 1 or 2. If both -v1 and -v2  are  specified,  all
              unpairable lines shall be output.

       -1  field
              Join on the fieldth field of file 1. Fields are decimal integers starting with 1.

       -2  field
              Join on the fieldth field of file 2. Fields are decimal integers starting with 1.

OPERANDS

       The following operands shall be supported:

       file1, file2
              A  pathname of a file to be joined. If either of the file1 or file2 operands is '-'
              , the standard input shall be used in its place.

STDIN

       The standard input shall be used only if the file1 or file2 operand is '-' . See the INPUT
       FILES section.

INPUT FILES

       The input files shall be text files.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       The following environment variables shall affect the execution of join:

       LANG   Provide  a  default  value for the internationalization variables that are unset or
              null. (See the  Base  Definitions  volume  of  IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,  Section  8.2,
              Internationalization Variables for the precedence of internationalization variables
              used to determine the values of locale categories.)

       LC_ALL If set to  a  non-empty  string  value,  override  the  values  of  all  the  other
              internationalization variables.

       LC_COLLATE

              Determine  the locale of the collating sequence join expects to have been used when
              the input files were sorted.

       LC_CTYPE
              Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text  data  as
              characters  (for  example,  single-byte  as  opposed  to  multi-byte  characters in
              arguments and input files).

       LC_MESSAGES
              Determine the locale that should be used to  affect  the  format  and  contents  of
              diagnostic messages written to standard error.

       NLSPATH
              Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of LC_MESSAGES .

ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS

       Default.

STDOUT

       The join utility output shall be a concatenation of selected character fields. When the -o
       option is not specified, the output shall be:

              "%s%s%s\n", <join field>, <other file1 fields>,
                  <other file2 fields>

       If the join field is not the first field in a file, the <other file fields> for that  file
       shall be:

              <fields preceding join field>, <fields following join field>

       When the -o option is specified, the output format shall be:

              "%s\n", <concatenation of fields>

       where the concatenation of fields is described by the -o option, above.

       For  either  format,  each  field  (except  the  last)  shall be written with its trailing
       separator character. If the separator is the default ( <blank>s), a single  <space>  shall
       be written after each field (except the last).

STDERR

       The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.

OUTPUT FILES

       None.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION

       None.

EXIT STATUS

       The following exit values shall be returned:

        0     All input files were output successfully.

       >0     An error occurred.

CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS

       Default.

       The following sections are informative.

APPLICATION USAGE

       Pathnames  consisting  of  numeric  digits  or  of  the  form  string.string should not be
       specified directly following the -o list.

EXAMPLES

       The -o 0 field essentially selects the union of the join fields.  For example, given  file
       phone:

              !Name           Phone Number
              Don             +1 123-456-7890
              Hal             +1 234-567-8901
              Yasushi         +2 345-678-9012

       and file fax:

              !Name           Fax Number
              Don             +1 123-456-7899
              Keith           +1 456-789-0122
              Yasushi         +2 345-678-9011

       (where  the large expanses of white space are meant to each represent a single <tab>), the
       command:

              join -t "<tab>" -a 1 -a 2 -e '(unknown)' -o 0,1.2,2.2 phone fax

       would produce:

              !Name           Phone Number            Fax Number
              Don             +1 123-456-7890         +1 123-456-7899
              Hal             +1 234-567-8901         (unknown)
              Keith           (unknown)               +1 456-789-0122
              Yasushi         +2 345-678-9012         +2 345-678-9011

       Multiple instances of the same key will produce combinatorial results.  The following:

              fa:
                  a x
                  a y
                  a z
              fb:
                  a p

       will produce:

              a x p
              a y p
              a z p

       And the following:

              fa:
                  a b c
                  a d e
              fb:
                  a w x
                  a y z
                  a o p

       will produce:

              a b c w x
              a b c y z
              a b c o p
              a d e w x
              a d e y z
              a d e o p

RATIONALE

       The -e option is only effective when used with -o  because,  unless  specific  fields  are
       identified  using  -o,  join  is not aware of what fields might be empty. The exception to
       this is the join field, but identifying an empty join field with  the  -e  string  is  not
       historical practice and some scripts might break if this were changed.

       The  0  field in the -o list was adopted from the Tenth Edition version of join to satisfy
       international objections that the join in the base documents does not  support  the  "full
       join"  or  "outer  join" described in relational database literature. Although it has been
       possible to include a join field in the output (by default, or by field number using  -o),
       the  join  field could not be included for an unpaired line selected by -a. The -o 0 field
       essentially selects the union of the join fields.

       This sort of outer join was not possible with the join commands in the base documents. The
       -o  0  field  was  chosen  because it is an upwards-compatible change for applications. An
       alternative was considered: have the join field represent the union of the fields  in  the
       files  (where they are identical for matched lines, and one or both are null for unmatched
       lines). This was not adopted because it would break some historical applications.

       The ability to  specify  file2  as  -  is  not  historical  practice;  it  was  added  for
       completeness.

       The  -v  option  is  not  historical  practice,  but  was  considered necessary because it
       permitted the writing of only those lines that do not match on the join field, as  opposed
       to  the  -a  option,  which  prints  both  lines that do and do not match. This additional
       facility is parallel with the -v option of grep.

       Some historical implementations have been encountered where a blank line  in  one  of  the
       input  files  was  considered to be the end of the file; the description in this volume of
       IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does not cite this as an allowable case.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

       None.

SEE ALSO

       awk , comm , sort , uniq

COPYRIGHT

       Portions of this text are reprinted and  reproduced  in  electronic  form  from  IEEE  Std
       1003.1,  2003  Edition,  Standard  for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System
       Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003  by
       the  Institute  of  Electrical  and  Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the
       event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE  and  The  Open  Group
       Standard,  the  original  IEEE  and  The  Open Group Standard is the referee document. The
       original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .