CLASSIFY

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: 25 Nov 1991
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NAME

classify - group files that are identical (modulo whitespace)

SYNOPSIS

classify [ -s | -l | -1 | -m | -M ] [ -b | -w ] [ -f ]
[ -- | - ] filename1 filename2 [ filename3... ]

DESCRIPTION

Classify is a program designed to help manage a set of files such as the /etc/rc.local or /etc/motd files for a collection of diskless workstations. Classify examines each of the files named in its arguments, groups them into classes, with files that are almost identical in the same class, and files that are not very much alike in different classes, and outputs a brief report. For example:

sterno napalm
moe larry curly
holy_grail

This output indicates that files sterno and napalm are identical in content, that moe, larry, and curly are all three the same as each other but different from sterno and napalm, and that holy_grail is different from all the others.

The other function of classify is to produce a list of files which are almost the same as a single other file. Classify ignores files which it cannot open for whatever reason, continuing on its way.

OPTIONS

-l: Select long output form. This format is unnecessary, but is still around for convenience and hystorical reasons. The `long' form of the example output above is:

Class 1:
sterno

napalm

Class 2:
       moe

       larry

       curly

Class 3:
holy_grail

-s: Select short output form: Print the names of the files in each class together on a single line. This is the default. See the example above.
-1: Select very short output form: Print on the standard output the name of only one file from each class.
-M: Produce on the standard output a list of all the filenames which are identical in content to filename1.
-m: Like -M, but omit filename1 itself from the output.
-b: Ignore blanks and tabs when comparing the named files.
-w: Ignore blanks, tabs, and newline characters when comparing files.
-f: Fold in lower case. Treat upper- and lower- case letters equally when comparing files.
-
--: Treat the following arguments as filenames so that you can specify filenames starting with a `-' character.
-h: Print summary of correct usage.

If more than one of -l, -s, -1, -M, or -m is selected, all but the last one on the command line will be ignored.

EXAMPLES

To edit one /etc/motd from each class and then update the others.
      foreach i (`classify -1 /export/root/*/etc/motd`)

               set ifamily=`classify -m $i /export/root/*/etc/motd`

               vi $i

               foreach j ($ifamily)

                       cp $i $j

               end

       end

DIAGNOSTICS

Couldn't open file filename: Indicates that file filename does not exist, or that read priviledges are lacking.
Unknown option: -option

AUTHOR

Mark-Jason Dominus, University of Pennsylvania

BUGS

Classify should be able to read the standard input as one of the files.

Several performance improvements might be possible.

Classify becomes confused if one of the files it is classifgying is removed before it is finished.

The -l option is silly since its function can be duplicated with an awk script.

This document was created by man2html, using the manual pages.
Time: 06:19:14 GMT, December 12, 2024