If no search method is specified, or if sequential (-ms) is specified, append will create the table if it does not exist.

For the record method (-mr), append adds new record offsets to the end of the index table. For the inverted method (-mi), it adds the records and then sorts the resulting index by the keycolumn(s) found in the existing index table, making the keycolumn argument redundant on the command line. For the binary (-mb) and hash (-mh) methods, the keycolumn argument is required.

Note: If the table is indexed using the hash method, append will recreate the index if/when all available index table slots are exhausted.

-fc

use c as the input table (and keytable) field separation character.

-Dn

turn on debugging at level n, or 1 if n is not specified.

-h

The input table has no /rdb head line and no dash line.

-m

[bhirs]. Update the corresponding fast access index table. See index for a complete discussion of specific options which apply to each of the fast access methods.

$ cat inventory
Item    Amount  Cost    Value   Description
----    ------  ----    -----   -----------
1       4       50.1            rubber gloves
2       100     5.23    500     test tubes
3       5       80      400     clamps
4       23      19      437     plates

$ cat inventory.r
   Offset
---------
       70
       94
      120
      138

$ cat newrecords
5       99      24      2376    cleaning cloth
6       89      147     13083   bunsen burners
7       5       175     875     scales

$ append -mr -h inventory < newrecords
$ cat inventory
Item    Amount  Cost    Value   Description
----    ------  ----    -----   -----------
1       4       50.1            rubber gloves
2       100     5.23    500     test tubes
3       5       80      400     clamps
4       23      19      437     plates
5       99      24      2376    cleaning cloth
6       89      147     13083   bunsen burners
7       5       175     875     scales

$ cat inventory.r
   Offset
---------
       70
       94
      120
      138
      157
      185
      215