List lines unique to the first sorted file.
Section: join and comm
Show lines only in the first file
bash
bash
comm -23 <(sort file1.txt) <(sort file2.txt)Explanation
Useful for simple set-difference operations in shell scripts.
Learn the surrounding workflow
Compare similar commands or jump into common fixes when this command is part of a bigger troubleshooting path.
Related commands
Same sheet · prioritizing join and comm
Show lines only in the second file
List lines unique to the second sorted file.
Show common lines between sorted files
Print only lines present in both files.
Join two files on a common field
Merge records based on matching first fields.
Extract comma-delimited fields
Print the first and third fields from a CSV-like file.