How do I compare two files with a shell script?

Fresh3 days ago

Mar 15, 2026104076 views

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Problem

Given two files, I want to write a shell script that reads each line from file1 and checks if it is there in file2. If a line is not found it should output two files are different and exit. The files can contain words numbers or anything. For example : file1 : file2: In this case two files should b…

Error Output

Hi!
1234
5678
1111
hello

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Fix for: How do I compare two files with a shell script?

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sets its exit status to indicate if the files are the same or not. The exit status is accessible in the special variable . You can expand on Ignacio's answer this way:

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How do I compare two files with a shell script?

Problem

Error Output

1 Fix

Fix for: How do I compare two files with a shell script?

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