difference between the content of two files

Question

I have two files one file subset of other and i want to obtain a file which has contents not common to both.for example

File1

apple
         


        

Answer 1

use awk, no sorting necessary (reduce overheads)

$ awk 'FNR==NR{f[$1];next}(!($1 in f)) ' file2 file
mango
orange
jackfruit
grapes
okra

Answer 2

You can sort the files then use comm:

$ comm -23 <(sort file1.txt) <(sort file2.txt)
grapes
jackfruit
mango
okra
orange

You might also want to use comm -3 instead of comm -23:

  -1              suppress lines unique to FILE1
  -2              suppress lines unique to FILE2
  -3              suppress lines that appear in both files

Answer 3

1 Only one instance , in either

• cat File1 File2 | sort | uniq -u

2 Only in first file

• cat File1 File2 File2 | sort | uniq -u

3 Only in second file

• cat File1 File1 File2 | sort | uniq -u

Answer 4

1. Files uncommon to both files

diff --changed-group-format="%<" --unchanged-group-format="%>" file1 file2

2. File unique to first file

diff --changed-group-format="%<" --unchanged-group-format="" file1 file2

3. File unique to second file

diff --changed-group-format="" --unchanged-group-format="%>" file1 file2

Hope it works for you