unexpand(1)




NAME

     expand, unexpand - expand TAB characters  to  SPACE  charac-
     ters, and vice versa


SYNOPSIS

     expand [-t tablist] [file...]

     expand [-tabstop] [ -tab1, tab2,. . ., tabn] [file...]

     unexpand [-a] [-t tablist] [file...]


DESCRIPTION

     The expand utility copies files (or the standard  input)  to
     the  standard  output, with TAB characters expanded to SPACE
     characters. BACKSPACE characters are preserved into the out-
     put  and  decrement  the  column count for TAB calculations.
     expand is useful for pre-processing character files  (before
     sorting,  looking  at  specific  columns, and so forth) that
     contain TAB characters.

     unexpand copies files (or the standard input) to  the  stan-
     dard  output,  putting TAB characters back into the data. By
     default, only leading SPACE and TAB characters are converted
     to  strings  of  tabs,  but this can be overridden by the -a
     option (see the OPTIONS section below).


OPTIONS

     The following options are supported for expand:

     -t tablist
           Specifies the tab stops.  The  argument  tablist  must
           consist of a single positive decimal integer or multi-
           ple positive  decimal  integers,  separated  by  blank
           characters  or commas, in ascending order. If a single
           number is given, tabs will be set tablist column posi-
           tions  apart  instead  of  the  default 8. If multiple
           numbers are given, the  tabs  will  be  set  at  those
           specific column positions.

           Each tab-stop position N  must  be  an  integer  value
           greater  than  zero,  and the list must be in strictly
           ascending order. This is taken to mean that, from  the
           start  of  a  line  of  output,  tabbing to position N
           causes the next character output to be in the  (N+1)th
           column position on that line.

           In the event of expand having to process a tab charac-
           ter  at  a position beyond the last of those specified
           in a multiple tab-stop  list,  the  tab  character  is
           replaced by a single space character in the output.

     -tabstop
           Specifies as a single argument,  sets  TAB  characters
           tabstop  SPACE characters apart instead of the default
           8.

     -tab1,tab2,...,tabn
           Sets  TAB  characters  at  the  columns  specified  by
           -tab1,tab2,...,tabn

     The following options are supported for unexpand:

     -a    Inserts TAB characters when replacing a run of two  or
           more  SPACE  characters would produce a smaller output
           file.

     -t tablist
           Specifies the tab stops. The  option-argument  tablist
           must be a single argument consisting of a single posi-
           tive decimal  integer  or  multiple  positive  decimal
           integers,  separated by blank characters or commas, in
           ascending order.  If a single number  is  given,  tabs
           will  be set tablist column positions apart instead of
           the default 8. If multiple numbers are given, the tabs
           will  be  set at those specific column positions. Each
           tab-stop position N must be an integer  value  greater
           than  zero, and the list must be in strictly ascending
           order. This is taken to mean that, from the start of a
           line  of  output, tabbing to position N will cause the
           next character output to  be  in  the  (N+1)th  column
           position  on  that  line.  When  the  -t option is not
           specified, the default is the equivalent of specifying
           -t  8  (except  for the interaction with -a, described
           below).

           No space-to-tab character conversions occur for  char-
           acters at positions beyond the last of those specified
           in a multiple tab-stop list.

           When -t is specified, the presence or absence  of  the
           -a  option  is ignored; conversion will not be limited
           to the processing of leading blank characters.


OPERANDS

     The following ooperand is supported for expand and unexpand:

     file  The path name of a text file to be used as input.


ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

     See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment
     variables  that affect the execution of expand and unexpand:
     LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.


EXIT STATUS

     The following exit values are returned:

     0     Successful completion

     >0    An error occurred.


ATTRIBUTES

     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:

     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |        ATTRIBUTE VALUE      |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | SUNWesu                     |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | CSI                         | enabled                     |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Interface Stability         | Standard                    |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|


SEE ALSO

     tabs(1), attributes(5), environ(5), standards(5)


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