LAM(1) General Commands Manual LAM(1)

lam — laminate files

lam [-f min.max] [-s sepstring] [-t c] file ...

lam [-p min.max] [-s sepstring] [-t c] file ...

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.

min.max, -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. Using -f applies only to the next file while -F applies to all subsequent files until it appears again uncapitalized.
min.max, -P min.max
Like -f, but pad this file's field when end-of-file is reached and other files are still active. Using -p applies only to the next file while -P applies to all subsequent files until it appears again uncapitalized.
sepstring, -S sepstring
Print sepstring before printing line fragments from the next file. This option may appear after the last file. Using -s applies only to the next file while -S applies to all subsequent files until it appears again uncapitalized.
c, -T c
The input line terminator is c instead of a newline. The newline normally appended to each output line is omitted. Using -t applies only to the next file while -T applies to all subsequent files until it appears again uncapitalized.

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

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

join(1), paste(1), pr(1), printf(3)

Some of the functionality of lam is standardized as the paste(1) utility by IEEE Std 1003.2 (“POSIX.2”).

The lam utility first appeared in 4.2BSD.

John A. Kunze

The lam utility does not recognize multibyte characters.

April 7, 2015 macOS 15.2