fmt(1)
fmt --
simple text formatters
Synopsis
fmt [-cs] [-w width] [file . . . ]
Description
fmt is a simple text formatter that fills and joins lines
to produce output lines of (up to) the number of characters
specified in the -w width option.
The default width is 72.
fmt concatenates the inputfiles
listed as arguments.
If none are given, fmt formats text from the standard input.
Blank lines are preserved in the output, as is the
spacing between words.
fmt
does not fill lines beginning with a . (dot),
for compatibility with
nroff.
Nor does it fill lines starting with
``From:''.
Indentation is preserved in the output, and input lines with differing
indentation are not joined (unless
-c
is used).
fmt can also be used as an in-line text filter for
vi(1);
the vi command:
!}fmt
reformats the text between the cursor location and the end of
the paragraph.
Options
-c-
Crown margin mode.
Preserve the indentation of the first two lines within a
paragraph, and align the left
margin of each subsequent line with that of the second line.
This is useful for tagged paragraphs.
-s-
Split lines only.
Do not join short lines to form longer ones.
This prevents sample lines of code, and other such \(lqformatted\(rq text,
from being unduly combined.
-w width-
Fill output lines to up to
width
columns.
References
nroff(1bsd),
vi(1)
Notices
The -w width
option is acceptable for
BSD
compatibility, but it may go away in future releases.
© 2004 The SCO Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
UnixWare 7 Release 7.1.4 - 25 April 2004