LAM(1) | General Commands Manual | LAM(1)

# NAME

`lam` — laminate files

# SYNOPSIS

`lam` | [`-F|f` min.max] [`-P|p` min.max] [`-S|s` sepstring] [`-T|t` c] file ...

# DESCRIPTION

`lam` 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.

The options are as follows:

`-F|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 prepended to make up the field width instead of blanks, and if it begins with a ‘-’, the fragment will be left-adjusted within the field.

  If `-f` is used, it affects only the file after it; if `-F` is used, it affects all subsequent files until it appears again uncapitalized.

`-P|p` min.max
  Like `-f`, but pad this file's field when end-of-file is reached and other files are still active.

  If `-p` is used, it affects only the file after it; if `-P` is used, it affects all subsequent files until it appears again uncapitalized.

`-S|s` sepstring
  Print sepstring before printing line fragments from the next file. This option may appear after the last file.

  If `-s` is used, it affects only the file after it; if `-S` is used, it affects all subsequent files until it appears again uncapitalized.

`-T|t` c
  The input line terminator is c instead of a newline. The newline normally appended to each output line is omitted.

  If `-t` is used, it affects only the file after it; if `-T` is used, it affects all subsequent files until it appears again uncapitalized.

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

# ENVIRONMENT

`LC_CTYPE`
  The character encoding locale(1). It determines the display widths of characters used by the `-f` and `-p` options. If unset or set to "C", "POSIX", or an unsupported value, each byte is regarded as a character of display width 1.

# EXAMPLES

Join four files together along each line:

`$ lam file1 file2 file3 file4`

Merge the lines from four different files:

    $ lam file1 -S "\
    " file2 file3 file4

Join every two lines of a file:

`$ lam - - < file`

A form letter with substitutions keyed by ‘@’ can be done with:

`$ lam -t @ letter changes`

# SEE ALSO

join(1), pr(1), printf(1)

# HISTORY

The `lam` utility first appeared in 4.2BSD.

# AUTHORS

John A. Kunze

December 2, 2021 | Debian