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.\"	@(#)lam.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
.\" $FreeBSD$
.\"
.Dd April 7, 2015
.Dt LAM 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm lam
.Nd laminate files
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Op Fl f Ar min . Ns Ar max
.Op Fl s Ar sepstring
.Op Fl t Ar c
.Ar
.Nm
.Op Fl p Ar min . Ns Ar max
.Op Fl s Ar sepstring
.Op Fl t Ar c
.Ar
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
utility copies the named files side by side onto the standard output.
The
.Em n-th
input lines from the input
.Ar files
are considered fragments of the single long
.Em n-th
output line into which they are assembled.
The name `\fB\-\fP' means the standard input, and may be repeated.
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width indent
.It Fl f Ar min . Ns Ar max , Fl F Ar min . Ns Ar max
Print line fragments according to the format string
.Ar min . Ns Ar max ,
where
.Ar min
is the minimum field width and
.Ar max
the maximum field width.
If
.Ar 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.
Using
.Fl f
applies only to the next file while
.Fl F
applies to all subsequent files until it appears again uncapitalized.
.It Fl p Ar min . Ns Ar max , Fl P Ar min . Ns Ar max
Like
.Fl f ,
but pad this file's field when end-of-file is reached
and other files are still active.
Using
.Fl p
applies only to the next file while
.Fl P
applies to all subsequent files until it appears again uncapitalized.
.It Fl s Ar sepstring , Fl S Ar sepstring
Print
.Ar sepstring
before printing line fragments from the next file.
This option may appear after the last file.
Using
.Fl s
applies only to the next file while
.Fl S
applies to all subsequent files until it appears again uncapitalized.
.It Fl t Ar c , Fl T Ar c
The input line terminator is
.Ar c
instead of a newline.
The newline normally appended to each output line is omitted.
Using
.Fl t
applies only to the next file while
.Fl T
applies to all subsequent files until it appears again uncapitalized.
.El
.Pp
To print files simultaneously for easy viewing use
.Xr pr 1 .
.Sh EXAMPLES
The command
.Bd -literal
lam file1 file2 file3 file4
.Ed
.Pp
joins 4 files together along each line.
To merge the lines from four different files use
.Bd -literal
lam file1 \-S "\\
" file2 file3 file4
.Ed
.Pp
Every 2 lines of a file may be joined on one line with
.Bd -literal
lam \- \- < file
.Ed
.Pp
and a form letter with substitutions keyed by `@' can be done with
.Bd -literal
lam \-t @ letter changes
.Ed
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr join 1 ,
.Xr paste 1 ,
.Xr pr 1 ,
.Xr printf 3
.Sh STANDARDS
Some of the functionality of
.Nm
is standardized as the
.Xr paste 1
utility by
.St -p1003.2 .
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
utility first appeared in
.Bx 4.2 .
.Sh AUTHORS
.An John A. Kunze
.Sh BUGS
The
.Nm
utility does not recognize multibyte characters.