---
name: "join"
section: "1"
platform: "openbsd"
package: "man"
version: "8.0-current-20261101"
release: "OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/join"
---

# join(1)

relational database operator

## NAME

**join** – relational database operator

## SYNOPSIS

**join** \[**-1** *field*\] \[**-2** *field*\]\[ **-a** *file\_number* \| **-v** *file\_number*\] \[**-e** *string*\] \[**-o** *list*\] \[**-t** *char*\] *file1* *file2*

## DESCRIPTION

The **join** utility performs an “equality join” on the specified files and writes the result to the standard output. The “join field” is the field in each file by which the files are compared. The first field in each line is used by default. There is one line in the output for each pair of lines in *file1* and *file2* which have identical join fields. Each output line consists of the join field, the remaining fields from *file1* and then the remaining fields from *file2*.

The default field separators are tab and space characters. In this case, multiple tabs and spaces count as a single field separator, and leading tabs and spaces are ignored. The default output field separator is a single space character.

Many of the options use file and field numbers. Both file numbers and field numbers are 1 based, i.e., the first file on the command line is file number 1 and the first field is field number 1.

When the default field delimiter characters are used, the files to be joined should be ordered in the collating sequence of [sort(1)](/sort/1.md), using the **-b** option, on the fields on which they are to be joined, otherwise **join** may not report all field matches. When the field delimiter characters are specified by the **-t** option, the collating sequence should be the same as [sort(1)](/sort/1.md) without the **-b** option.

If one of the arguments *file1* or *file2* is ‘-’, the standard input is used.

The options are as follows:

- **-1** *field*

  Join on the *field*'th field of *file1*.

- **-2** *field*

  Join on the *field*'th field of *file2*.

- **-a** *file\_number*

  In addition to the default output, produce a line for each unpairable line in file *file\_number*.

- **-e** *string*

  Replace empty output fields with *string*.

- **-o** *list*

  Specifies the fields that will be output from each file for each line with matching join fields. Each element of *list* has the form “file\_number.field”, where *file\_number* is a file number and *field* is a field number, or the form “0” (zero), representing the join field. The elements of list must be either comma (‘,’) or whitespace separated. (The latter requires quoting to protect it from the shell, or a simpler approach is to use multiple **-o** options.)

- **-t** *char*

  Use character *char* as a field delimiter for both input and output. Every occurrence of *char* in a line is significant.

- **-v** *file\_number*

  Do not display the default output, but display a line for each unpairable line in file *file\_number*. The options **-v** **1** and **-v** **2** may be specified at the same time.

## EXIT STATUS

The **join** utility exits 0 on success, and \>0 if an error occurs.

## SEE ALSO

[awk(1)](/awk/1.md), [comm(1)](/comm/1.md), [lam(1)](/lam/1.md), [paste(1)](/paste/1.md), [sort(1)](/sort/1.md), [uniq(1)](/uniq/1.md)

## STANDARDS

The **join** utility is compliant with the IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (“POSIX.1”) specification.

In the absence of the **-o** option, historical versions of **join** wrote non-matching lines without reordering the fields. The current version writes the join field first, followed by the remaining fields.

For compatibility with historical versions of **join**, the following options are available:

- **-a**

  In addition to the default output, produce a line for each unpairable line in both *file1* and *file2*.

- **-j** *field*

  Join on the *field*'th field of both *file1* and *file2*.

- **-j1** *field*

  Join on the *field*'th field of *file1*.

- **-j2** *field*

  Join on the *field*'th field of *file2*.

- **-o** *list* *...*

  Historical implementations of **join** permitted multiple arguments to the **-o** option. These arguments were of the form “file\_number.field\_number” as described for the current **-o** option. This has obvious difficulties in the presence of files named “1.2”.

These options are available only so historical shell scripts don't require modification and should not be used.

## HISTORY

A **join** utility appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.