User Commands newform(1)
NAME
newform - change the format of a text file
SYNOPSIS
newform [-s] [-itabspec] [-otabspec] [-bn] [-en] [-pn]
[-an] [-f] [-cchar] [-ln] [filename]...
DESCRIPTION
newform reads lines from the named filenames, or the stan-
dard input if no input file is named, and reproduces the
lines on the standard output. Lines are reformatted in
accordance with command line options in effect.
Except for -s, command line options may appear in any order,
may be repeated, and may be intermingled with the optional
filenames. Command line options are processed in the order
specified. This means that option sequences like ``-e15
-l60'' will yield results different from ``-l60 -e15''.
Options are applied to all filenames on the command line.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-s Shears off leading characters on each line up
to the first tab and places up to 8 of the
sheared characters at the end of the line. If
more than 8 characters (not counting the first
tab) are sheared, the eighth character is
replaced by a * and any characters to the
right of it are discarded. The first tab is
always discarded.
An error message and program exit will occur
if this option is used on a file without a tab
on each line. The characters sheared off are
saved internally until all other options
specified are applied to that line. The char-
acters are then added at the end of the pro-
cessed line.
For example, to convert a file with leading
digits, one or more tabs, and text on each
line, to a file beginning with the text, all
tabs after the first expanded to spaces, pad-
ded with spaces out to column 72 (or truncated
to column 72), and the leading digits placed
starting at column 73, the command would be:
newform -s -i -l -a -e filename
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User Commands newform(1)
-itabspec Input tab specification: expands tabs to
spaces, according to the tab specifications
given. Tabspec recognizes all tab specifica-
tion forms described in tabs(1). In addition,
tabspec may be -, in which newform assumes
that the tab specification is to be found in
the first line read from the standard input
(see fspec(4)). If no tabspec is given,
tabspec defaults to -8. A tabspec of -0
expects no tabs; if any are found, they are
treated as -1.
-otabspec Output tab specification: replaces spaces by
tabs, according to the tab specifications
given. The tab specifications are the same as
for -itabspec. If no tabspec is given, tabspec
defaults to -8. A tabspec of -0 means that no
spaces will be converted to tabs on output.
-bn Truncate n characters from the beginning of
the line when the line length is greater than
the effective line length (see -ln). Default
is to truncate the number of characters neces-
sary to obtain the effective line length. The
default value is used when -b with no n is
used. This option can be used to delete the
sequence numbers from a COBOL program as fol-
lows:
newform -l1 -b7 filename
-en Same as -bn except that characters are trun-
cated from the end of the line.
-pn Prefix n characters (see -cchar) to the begin-
ning of a line when the line length is less
than the effective line length. Default is to
prefix the number of characters necessary to
obtain the effective line length.
-an Same as -pn except characters are appended to
the end of a line.
-f Write the tab specification format line on the
standard output before any other lines are
output. The tab specification format line
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User Commands newform(1)
which is printed will correspond to the format
specified in the last -o option. If no -o
option is specified, the line which is printed
will contain the default specification of -8.
-cchar Change the prefix/append character to char.
Default character for char is a space.
-ln Set the effective line length to n characters.
If n is not entered, -l defaults to 72. The
default line length without the -l option is
80 characters. Note: Tabs and backspaces are
considered to be one character (use -i to
expand tabs to spaces).
The -l1 must be used to set the effective line
length shorter than any existing line in the
file so that the -b option is activated.
OPERANDS
The following operand is supported:
filename Input file
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Successful operation.
1 Operation failed.
ATRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
ATRIBUTE TYPE ATRIBUTE VALUE
Availability SUNWesu
SEE ALSO
csplit(1), tabs(1), fspec(4), attributes(5)
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User Commands newform(1)
DIAGNOSTICS
All diagnostics are fatal.
usage: ...
newform was called with a bad option.
"not -s format"
There was no tab on one line.
"can't open file"
Self-explanatory.
"internal line too long"
A line exceeds 512 characters after being expanded in
the internal work buffer.
"tabspec in error"
A tab specification is incorrectly formatted, or speci-
fied tab stops are not ascending.
"tabspec indirection illegal"
A tabspec read from a file (or standard input) may not
contain a tabspec referencing another file (or standard
input).
NOTES
newform normally only keeps track of physical characters;
however, for the -i and -o options, newform will keep track
of backspaces in order to line up tabs in the appropriate
logical columns.
newform will not prompt the user if a tabspec is to be read
from the standard input (by use of -i- or -o-).
If the -f option is used, and the last -o option specified
was -o-, and was preceded by either a -o- or a -i-, the tab
specification format line will be incorrect.
SunOS 5.11 Last change: 21 Jul 1997 4
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