paste
merges lines from multiple files side by side
TLDR
Merge files side by side
$ paste [file1.txt] [file2.txt]
Merge with custom delimiter$ paste -d "," [file1.txt] [file2.txt]
Merge lines from single file$ paste -s [file.txt]
Create tab-separated columns$ paste - - < [file.txt]
Merge multiple files$ paste [file1] [file2] [file3]
SYNOPSIS
paste [options] files...
DESCRIPTION
paste merges lines from multiple files side by side. Each line from the first file is joined with the corresponding line from subsequent files, separated by tabs.The tool is useful for combining data from different sources into columnar format.
PARAMETERS
-d list
Use characters from list as delimiters.-s, --serial
Paste one file at a time.-z, --zero-terminated
Use NUL as line delimiter.--help
Display help.--version
Display version.
INSTALL
sudo apt install coreutils
sudo dnf install coreutils
sudo pacman -S coreutils
sudo apk add coreutils
sudo zypper install coreutils
brew install coreutils
nix profile install nixpkgs#coreutils
CAVEATS
Files should have same number of lines for alignment. Delimiter cycles through list. Empty lines produce empty columns.
HISTORY
paste is a traditional Unix utility, part of POSIX and GNU coreutils. It has been standard in Unix systems since the early days, providing simple tabular data assembly.