diff --git a/combine-by-prefix b/combine-by-prefix
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..982e6c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/combine-by-prefix
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Usage: pass lines into stdin; consecutive lines with the same first field (everything up to the first whitespace) will be grouped together on stdout.
+# Input lines: 'A 1', 'A 2', 'B 3', 'C 4', 'C 5', 'B 6'
+# Output lines: 'A 1 2', 'B 3', 'C 4 5', 'B 6'
+# Whitespace within input lines beyond the first whitespace after the prefix is preserved. A single space is used to separate prefix and combined lines.
+exec awk '($1 != lastPrefix) || (NR == 1) { if (NR != 1) { printf "\n"; } printf "%s", $1; lastPrefix = $1; }  { printf " %s", substr($0, index($0, FS) + 1); }  END { printf "\n"; }'