Concatenating lines of separate files using awk or sed

For example:

File 1:
abc def ghi
jkl mno pqr

File 2:
stu vwx yza
bcd efg hij
klm nop qrs

I want the reult to be:
abc def ghistu vwx yza
jkl mno pqrbcd efg hij
klm nop qrs

Try the paste command

paste file1 file2 > newfile

thanks Jim but when I use paste the spaces doesn't seem rigth with the "new line character" showing as a big white space in between the merged lines.

Try this.

for line1 in file1
do
	if [ -z $line1 ]
	then	
		echo $line1 >> outputFile
	fi

	for line2 in file2
	do
		echo $line2 >> outputFile
		break
	done
done
# paste -d \\ file1 file2
abc def ghistu vwx yza
jkl mno pqrbcd efg hij
klm nop qrs