fold(1) [hpux man page]
fold(1) General Commands Manual fold(1) NAME
fold - fold long lines for finite width output device SYNOPSIS
width] [file ...] Obsolete form: width] [file ...] DESCRIPTION
The command is a filter that folds the contents of the specified files, breaking the lines to have a maximum of width column positions (or bytes, if the option is specified). The command breaks lines by inserting a newline character so that each output line is the maximum width possible that does not exceed the specified number of column positions (or bytes). A line cannot be broken in the middle of a char- acter. If no files are specified or if a file name of is specified, the standard input is used. The command is often used to send text files to line printers that truncate, rather than fold, lines wider than the printer is able to print. If the backspace, tab, or carriage-return characters are encountered in the input, and the option is not specified, they are treated spe- cially as follows: Backspace The current count of line width is decremented by one, although the count never becomes negative. Thus, the char- acter sequence character-backspace-character counts as using one column position, assuming both characters each occupy a single column position. does not insert a newline character immediately before or after any backspace character. Tab Each tab character encountered advances the column position pointer to the next tab stop. Tab stops are set 8 col- umns apart at column positions 1, 9, 17, 25, 33, etc. Carriage-return The current count of line width is set to zero. does not insert a newline character immediately before or after any carriage-return character. Note that may affect any underlining that is present. Options The command recognizes the following options and command-line arguments: Count width in bytes rather than in column positions. Break the line on the last blank character found before the specified number of column positions (or bytes). If none are found, break the line at the specified line length. Specify the maximum line length, in column positions (or bytes if is specified). The default value is 80. width should be a multiple of 8 if tabs are present, or the tabs should be expanded using before processing by (see expand(1)). The option is obsolescent and may be removed in a future release. EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
Environment Variables determines the interpretation of text as single- and/or multi-byte characters. determines the language in which messages are displayed. If or is not specified in the environment or is set to the empty string, the value of is used as a default for each unspecified or empty variable. If is not specified or is set to the empty string, a default of "C" (see lang(5)) is used instead of If any internationalization variable contains an invalid setting, behaves as if all internationalization variables are set to "C". See environ(5). International Code Set Support Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported. SEE ALSO
expand(1). STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
fold(1)
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fold(1) User Commands fold(1) NAME
fold - filter for folding lines SYNOPSIS
fold [-bs] [-w width | -width] [file...] DESCRIPTION
The fold utility is a filter that will fold lines from its input files, breaking the lines to have a maximum of width column positions (or bytes, if the -b option is specified). Lines will be broken by the insertion of a NEWLINE character such that each output line (referred to later in this section as a segment) is the maximum width possible that does not exceed the specified number of column positions (or bytes). A line will not be broken in the middle of a character. The behavior is undefined if width is less than the number of columns any single character in the input would occupy. If the CARRIAGE-RETURN, BACKSPACE, or TAB characters are encountered in the input, and the -b option is not specified, they will be treated specially: BACKSPACE The current count of line width will be decremented by one, although the count never will become negative. fold will not insert a NEWLINE character immediately before or after any BACKSPACE character. CARRIAGE-RETURN The current count of line width will be set to 0. fold will not insert a NEWLINE character immediately before or after any CARRIAGE-RETURN character. TAB Each TAB character encountered will advance the column position pointer to the next tab stop. Tab stops will be at each column position n such that n modulo 8 equals 1. OPTIONS
The following options are supported: -b Counts width in bytes rather than column positions. -s If a segment of a line contains a blank character within the first width column positions (or bytes), breaks the line after the last such blank character meeting the width constraints. If there is no blank character meeting the requirements, the -s option will have no effect for that output segment of the input line. -w width|-width Specifies the maximum line length, in column positions (or bytes if -b is specified). If width is not a positive decimal number, an error is returned. The default value is 80. OPERANDS
The following operand is supported: file A path name of a text file to be folded. If no file operands are specified, the standard input will be used. EXAMPLES
Example 1: Submitting a file of possibly long lines to the line printer An example invocation that submits a file of possibly long lines to the line printer (under the assumption that the user knows the line width of the printer to be assigned by lp(1)): example% fold -w 132 bigfile | lp ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables that affect the execution of fold: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MES- SAGES, and NLSPATH. EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned: 0 All input files were processed successfully. >0 An error occurred. ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes: +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ | ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ |Availability |SUNWcsu | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ |CSI |enabled | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ |Interface Stability |Standard | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ SEE ALSO
cut(1), pr(1), attributes(5), environ(5), standards(5) NOTES
fold and cut(1) can be used to create text files out of files with arbitrary line lengths. fold should be used when the contents of long lines need to be kept contiguous. cut should be used when the number of lines (or records) needs to remain constant. fold is frequently used to send text files to line printers that truncate, rather than fold, lines wider than the printer is able to print (usually 80 or 132 column positions). fold may not work correctly if underlining is present. SunOS 5.10 1 Feb 1995 fold(1)