CMP(1) User Commands CMP(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

cmp - compare two files byte by byte

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**cmp** \[*OPTION*]... *FILE1* \[*FILE2* \[*SKIP1* \[*SKIP2*]]]

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

Compare two files byte by byte.

The optional SKIP1 and SKIP2 specify the number of bytes to skip at the beginning of each file (zero by default).

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

[**-b**, **--print-bytes**](#b)

print differing bytes

[**-i**, **--ignore-initial**=*SKIP*](#i)

skip first SKIP bytes of both inputs

[**-i**, **--ignore-initial**=*SKIP1*:SKIP2](#i~2)

skip first SKIP1 bytes of FILE1 and first SKIP2 bytes of FILE2

[**-l**, **--verbose**](#l)

output byte numbers and differing byte values

[**-n**, **--bytes**=*LIMIT*](#n)

compare at most LIMIT bytes

[**-s**, **--quiet**, **--silent**](#s)

suppress all normal output

[**--help**](#help)

display this help and exit

[**-v**, **--version**](#v)

output version information and exit

SKIP values may be followed by the following multiplicative suffixes: kB 1000, K 1024, MB 1,000,000, M 1,048,576, GB 1,000,000,000, G 1,073,741,824, and so on for T, P, E, Z, Y.

If a FILE is '-' or missing, read standard input. Exit status is 0 if inputs are the same, 1 if different, 2 if trouble.

# [AUTHOR](#AUTHOR)

Written by Torbjorn Granlund and David MacKenzie.

# [REPORTING BUGS](#REPORTING_BUGS)

Report bugs to: bug-diffutils@gnu.org  
GNU diffutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/diffutils/>  
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>

# [COPYRIGHT](#COPYRIGHT)

Copyright © 2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.  
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**diff**(1)](/man/os/diffutils/diff.1), [**diff3**(1)](/man/os/diffutils/diff3.1), [**sdiff**(1)](/man/os/diffutils/sdiff.1)

The full documentation for **cmp** is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the **info** and **cmp** programs are properly installed at your site, the command

**info cmp**

should give you access to the complete manual.

October 2026 diffutils 3.12

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Document: cmp(1) from diffutils 3.12-r10 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/diffutils.git