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I have couple of files (file 1.txt and file2.txt) and I am using unix "comm" command to compare those files to find out unique lines on file1.txt

Here are the lines having on file1.txt:

OD1
EN2
OD3
OD4
OD5
EN6
EN7
EN8
EN9
OD10
OD11
OD12

Here are the lines having on file2.txt:

EN1
EN2
EN3
OD4
OD5
EN6
EN7
EN8
EN9
OD10

I am using the command as :

comm -23 file1.txt file2.txt

actual

The result is:

OD1 
OD10
OD11
OD12
OD3

expecting

I was expecting:

OD1 
OD11
OD12
OD3

Can you please help how to get the expected results?

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3
  • I get ... OD5 comm: file 2 is not in sorted order EN6 ... (this is taken from the right-most column). "comm - compare two sorted files line by line". Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 11:31
  • Check also this topic: link Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 11:34
  • comm expects the file to be sorted before inputting. Looks like both of your files are not sorted Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 12:30

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2

The files have to be sorted lexically or comm will not work.

Sort them into order and try again.

Or use: 

comm -23 <(sort file1.txt) <(sort file2.txt)
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1
  • Thanks for the reply. However I still I am getting the result where OD10 is getting included. Here is my test result:OD1 OD10 OD11 OD12 OD3 Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 12:58
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Use 

sdiff -s file1.txt file2.txt | awk '{print $1}' | sort -u

Output is

OD1                                                                                                                                                                      
OD11                                                                                                                                                                     
OD12                                                                                                                                                                     
OD3
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5
  • I tried the same command but getting result with OD10 included on the list. here are the result :OD1 OD10 OD11 OD12 OD3 Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 12:54
  • Can you check data correctly? I have used the same data which you provided in the question and got the output shown. Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 13:00
  • It is surprising! With the same data I am getting different result. Any idea does that depend on linux version? The one I am running is on Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.7 Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 13:08
  • Probably there are some additional characters in OD10. open the file in vi. then enter :set list Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 13:12
  • Thanks! It is working fine now with the new data set. Even the first command suggested works well now! Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 13:34

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