cat perlout.txt | sort | uniq 192.168.1.1 192.168.1.188 fdba:7b43:1916::1 fdba:7b43:1916::d34 fe80::eade:27ff:feb6:fa8c fe80::ec78:4ff:fec0:a17b cat perlout.txt | sort | uniq -u 192.168.1.188 fdba:7b43:1916::1 fe80::eade:27ff:feb6:fa8c fe80::ec78:4ff:fec0:a17b When pre-filter one more time with uniq, then they give same result cat perlout.txt | sort | uniq | uniq 192.168.1.1 192.168.1.188 fdba:7b43:1916::1 fdba:7b43:1916::d34 fe80::eade:27ff:feb6:fa8c fe80::ec78:4ff:fec0:a17b cat perlout.txt | sort | uniq | uniq -u 192.168.1.1 192.168.1.188 fdba:7b43:1916::1 fdba:7b43:1916::d34 fe80::eade:27ff:feb6:fa8c fe80::ec78:4ff:fec0:a17b