expand(1)							   User Commands							 expand(1)

NAME

       expand, unexpand - expand TAB characters to SPACE characters, 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 output 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 standard 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 multiple posi-
				 tive  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  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 character 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 positive decimal inte-
		      ger  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  posi-
		      tion  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 characters 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 attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWesu			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |CSI			     |enabled			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface Stability	     |Standard			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

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

SunOS 5.11							    1 Feb 1995								 expand(1)