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paste: combine files

The paste command displays several text files "in parallel" on output.

If the inputs are files a, b, c

  • the first line of output is composed of the first lines of a, b, c
  • the second line of output is composed of the second lines of a, b, c
Lines from each file are separated by a tab character or specified delimiter(s).

If files are different lengths, output has all lines from longest file, with empty strings for missing lines.

Interleaves lines instead with -s (serial) option.