LAM(1)                  System General Commands Manual                  LAM(1)

NAME
     lam - laminate files (vertically in columns)

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

DESCRIPTION
     lam copies the named files side by side (in columns) onto the standard
     output.  The n-th input lines from the input files are considered frag-
     ments of the single long n-th output line into which they are assembled.
     The name ``-'' means the standard input, and may be repeated.

     Normally, each option affects only the file after it.  If the option let-
     ter is capitalized it affects all subsequent files until it appears again
     uncapitalized.  The options are described below.

     -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.

     -p min.max    Like -f, but pad this file's field when end-of-file is
                   reached and other files are still active.

     -s sepstring  Print sepstring before printing line fragments from the
                   next file.  This option may appear after the last file.

     -t c          The input line terminator is c instead of a newline.  The
                   newline normally appended to each output line is omitted.

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

EXAMPLES
     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

SEE ALSO
     join(1), colrm(1), awk(1), pr(1), printf(1)

HISTORY
     This version was written for 4.4BSD.

BSD                              June 20, 2004                             BSD