Compare 1 column bash

alancampbell6 · 08-18-2011, 03:35 AM

I generate a file everyday with three columns. I want my script to compare today's file with yesterdays file. It works currently but not the way i want it.the second and third column change every day but i dont want to know about that, i only want to know if the first column changes.

Here is the code that compares all columns and outputs the differences to a txt file.

grep -Fxvf $yesterday.txt $today.txt >> diff.txt

Does anyone know how to only compare the first column only??

grail · 08-18-2011, 04:11 AM

Have you looked at diff or comm?

alancampbell6 · 08-18-2011, 04:16 AM

Yes but i grep was easier for this initially, now maybe diff would be better. any ideas?

grail · 08-18-2011, 06:19 AM

Have a look at the man pages and see what you find