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)