man(1) Manual page archive


     SUM(1)                                                     SUM(1)

     NAME
          sum - sum and count blocks in a file

     SYNOPSIS
          sum [ -5r ] [ file ... ]

     DESCRIPTION
          By default, sum calculates and prints a 32-bit hexadecimal
          checksum, a byte count and the name of each file. The check-
          sum is also a function of the input length.  If no files are
          given, the standard input is summed.  Other summing algo-
          rithms are available.  The options are

          -r   Sum with the algorithm of System V's sum -r and print
               the length (in 1K blocks) of the input.

          -5   Sum with System V's default algorithm and print the
               length (in 512-byte blocks) of the input.

          Sum is typically used to look for bad spots, to validate a
          file communicated over some transmission line or as a quick
          way to determine if two files on different machines might be
          the same.

     SEE ALSO
          cmp(1), wc(1)