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LAM(1)                    BSD General Commands Manual                   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 considered 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