paste

Additional Notes

paste is a text-processing command used to merge lines from files side by side. It lets you combine files column-wise, which is useful for creating reports or tabular output without a spreadsheet.

paste reads line by line in parallel from each input file. It is part of POSIX and works consistently across systems.

Syntax

paste [options] [file...]

Parameters

• options: Flags that change how paste behaves.
• file: Text file to read or process.

Common Options

• -d LIST: Use custom delimiters.
• -s: Paste one file at a time instead of in parallel.

Examples

paste names.txt scores.txt
paste -d, first.csv second.csv
seq 3 | paste -s -d+

Practical Notes

paste is handy for simple column joining without needing a spreadsheet.