NAME
	  paste	- Joins	corresponding lines of several files or	subse-
	  quent	lines in one file

     SYNOPSIS
	  paste	[ -dlist ] [-s]	file ...


	  The paste command reads input	files (or standard input if
	  you specify a	- (dash) instead of a filename), joins
	  corresponding	lines, and writes the result to	standard out-
	  put.

     FLAGS
	  -dlist
	      Replaces the delimiter that separates lines in the out-
	      put (tab by default) with	one or more characters from
	      list.  If	list contains more than	one character, then
	      the characters are repeated in order until the end of
	      the output.  In parallel merging,	the lines from the
	      last file	always end with	a newline character, instead
	      of one from list.

	      The following special characters can be used in list:


	      \n  Newline character

	      \t  Tab

	      \\  Backslash

	      \0  Empty	string (not a null character)

	      c	  An extended character


	      You must quote characters	that have special meaning to
	      the shell.

	  -s  Merges all lines from each input file into one line of
	      output (serial merging).	With this flag,	paste works
	      through one entire file before starting on the next.
	      When it finishes merging the lines in one	file, it
	      forces a newline and then	merges the lines in the	next
	      input file, continuing in	the same way through the
	      remaining	input files, one at a time.  A tab separates
	      the input	lines unless you use the -d flag.  Regardless
	      of the list, the last character of the output is a new-
	      line character.


     DESCRIPTION
	  Without a flag, or with the -d flag, paste treats each file
	  as a column and joins	them horizontally with a tab character
	  by default (parallel merging).

	  With the -s flag, paste combines all lines of	each input
	  file into one	output line (serial merging).  These lines are
	  joined with the tab character	by default.

	  Output lines are restricted to 511 bytes.

	  Note that the	output of pr -t	-m is similar to that of
	  paste, but creates extra spaces, tabs, and lines for an
	  enhanced page	layout.

     EXAMPLES
	   1.  To paste	several	columns	of data	together, enter:

	       paste  names  places  dates  > npd



	       This creates a file named npd that contains the data
	       from names in one column, places	in another, and	dates
	       in a third.  The	columns	are separated by tab charac-
	       ters.

	       npd then	contains:

	       names	       places	       dates

	       rachel	       New York	       28 February
	       jerzy	       Warsaw	       27 April
	       mata	       Nairobi	       21 June
	       michel	       Boca Raton      27 July
	       segui	       Managua 18 November



	       A tab character separates the name, place, and date on
	       each line.

	   2.  To separate the columns with a character	other than a
	       tab (sh only), enter:

	       paste  -d"!@"  names  places  dates  > npd



	       This alternates ! and @ as the column separators.  If
	       names, places, and dates	are the	same as	in Example 1,
	       then npd	contains:
	       rachel!New York@28 February
	       jerzy!Warsaw@27 April
	       mata!Nairobi@21 June
	       michel!Boca Raton@27 July
	       segui!Managua@18	November



	   3.  To display the standard input in	multiple columns,
	       enter:

	       ls | paste  -  -	 -  -



	       This lists the current directory	in four	columns.  Each
	       - (dash)	tells paste to create a	column containing data
	       read from the standard input.  The first	line is	put in
	       the first column, the second line in the	second column,
	       ... and then the	fifth line in the first	column,	and so
	       on.

	       This is equivalent to the following:

	       ls | paste -d"\t\t\t\n"	-s  -



	       The preceding command line fills	the columns across the
	       page with subsequent lines from the standard input.
	       The -d\t\t\t\n defines the character to insert after
	       each column: a tab character (\t) after the first three
	       columns,	and a newline character	(\n) after the fourth.
	       Without the -d flag, paste -s - displays	all of the
	       input as	one line with a	tab between each column.

	   4.  To merge	the lines of the file names above into one
	       output line, enter:

	       paste -s	names



	       This results in the following:

	       rachel  jerzy   mata    michel  segui



     RELATED INFORMATION
	  Commands:  cut(1), grep(1)/egrep(1)/fgrep(1),	join(1),
	  pr(1).
	  "Using Internationalization Features"	in the OSF/1 User's
	  Guide.