I recently was trying to merge two text files having related data as 2 columns separated by ~ and came across the paste command. Here is an example using paste command:
For example you have one file1 with following data:
John
Mary
Cathy
Chris
and you have other file file2 with following data:
Manager
Office Assistant
Team Member
Team Leader
Running paste file1 file2 prints following in the console
John Manager Mary Office Assistant Cathy Team Member Chris Team Leader
If you want the columns to be delimited by other character try paste -d "~" file1 file2 >file3 which generates
John~Manager
Mary~Office Assistant
Cathy~Team Member
Chris~Team Leader
If you want the files to be pasted serial instead of line by line you can try this command paste -s file1 file2 which prints out each line separated by tab, and each file in a single line, as below.
John Mary Cathy Chris Manager Office Assistant Team Member Team Leader
I hope this helps someone trying to merge 2 files.