NAME

lam - laminate files



SYNOPSIS

lam -string | files...



DESCRIPTION

Lam laminates the named files to the standard output.
That is, the first output line is the result of concatenating
the first lines of each file, and so on.
If the files are different lengths, null lines are used for the missing
lines in the shorter files.

The "-string" arguments are used to place strings in each output
line.  Each "string" is placed in the output lines at the point
it appears in the argument list.  For example,



lam -file1: foo1 "-, file2:" foo2



results in output lines that look like



file1: a line from foo1, file2: a line from foo2



The escape sequences described in find (and change)
are valid in "string"
arguments.  Thus



lam foo1 -@n foo2



results in the lines from foo1 and foo2 being interleaved.

Files and string specifications may appear in any order in the
argument list.

If no file arguments are given,
or if the file "-" is specified,
lam reads the standard input.



FILES

None



SEE ALSO

comm, tail, field




DIAGNOSTICS

too many arguments


The maximum number of command line arguments allowed has been exceeded.
It is set by the MAXARGS definition in the source code.


too many strings


The max number of characters in a string has been exceeded.
It is set by the MAXBUF definition in the source code.


output buffer exceeded

The size of the output line buffer has been exceeded.
It is set by the MAXOBUF definition in the source code.




AUTHORS

David Hanson and friends (U. of Arizona)


BUGS/DEFICIENCES