expand(1)						      General Commands Manual							 expand(1)

NAME

       expand, unexpand - expand tabs to spaces, and vice versa

SYNOPSIS

       tablist] [file ...]

       tablist] [file ...]

   Obsolescent:
       tabstop] tabn] [file ...]

DESCRIPTION

       processes  the named files or the standard input and writes to the standard output with tabs changed into spaces.  Backspace characters are
       preserved in the output, and the column count is decreased by one column for tab calculations.  For proper tab calculation, if a multi-col-
       umn  character  is  to be "backspace'd", it should be followed by multiple backspace characters which equal to it's column width.  If a tab
       character is found after the last tab position, it is replaced by a single space.  is useful for preprocessing character files that contain
       tabs (before sorting, looking at specific columns, etc).

       recognizes the following command-line options and arguments:

	      tablist	     specifies	where  to set the tab positions instead of the default tablist can take two forms.  If it is a single num-
			     ber, tabs are set tablist spaces apart.  tablist can also be a blank- or comma-separated list of increasing positions
			     where tabs are to be set.

	      This option is obsolescent and is equivalent to using

	      This option is obsolescent and is equivalent to using

       processes  the  named  files  or  the  standard	input  and writes to the standard output with spaces changed into tabs where possible.	By
       default, only leading spaces and tabs are converted to maximal strings of tabs.	The default tab position is every 8 characters.  Backspace
       characters  are	preserved  into the output, and the column count is decreased by one column for tab calculations.  For proper tab calcula-
       tion, if a multi-column character is to be "backspace'd", it should be followed by multiple backspace characters which equal to it's column
       width.

       recognizes the following command-line options and arguments:

	      Tabs are inserted whenever they would compress the resultant file
			     by replacing two or more spaces before a tab position.

	      tablist	     specifies	the tab positions.  tablist can take two forms.  If it is a single number, tabs are set every tablist spa-
			     ces apart.  If tablist is a blank- or comma-separated list of increasing positions, tabs are set at those	locations.
			     The  option  implies the option.  If the option is not specified, the default is equivalent to specifying except that
			     is not implied for this case.

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, and behave as if all internationalization variables are set to "C".  See
       environ(5).

       If is set to a non-empty string value, it overrides the values of all the other internationalization variables.

   International Code Set Support
       Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported with the exception that do not recognize multi-byte alternative space characters.

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE

																	 expand(1)