tabs(1) 						      General Commands Manual							   tabs(1)

NAME

       tabs - Sets tab stops on terminals

SYNOPSIS

       tabs [-n] [-T terminal] [+m [margin]]

       tabs [predefined_tab_flag] [-T terminal] [+m [margin]]

       tabs [-T terminal] [+m [margin]] number [,number]...

       tabs [--tab_format_file]

       The tabs command clears up to 20 previous tabs and sets up to 40 tabs on the terminal according to the supplied tab specifications.

STANDARDS

       Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards as follows:

       tabs: XCU5.0

       Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about industry standards and associated tags.

OPTIONS

       Specifies repetitive tab stops separated by a uniform number of column positions, n, where n is a single-digit number. The default usage of
       tabs with no arguments is equivalent to tabs -8. If you use -0, the tab stops are cleared and no new ones are set.  Identifies the terminal
       so that tabs can set tabs and margins correctly.  The terminal argument is one of the conventional terminal names supported by your system.

	      [Tru64 UNIX]  If the terminal you specify is not known to the system, tabs tries a general value that works for most terminals.

	      If  you do not provide a -T option, tabs uses the TERM shell variable.  Moves all tabs to the right number columns, and makes column
	      number+1 the left margin.

	      If m is given without a value, 10 is assumed. The leftmost margin on most terminals is defined by m0.  Specifies that tabs should be
	      set  to  a  structured language format that is known to the system.  See the section Predefined Tab Flags for a description of these
	      flags.  [Tru64 UNIX]  Causes tabs to read a file named tab_format_file for format information.  The first line of the file  must	be
	      in  the format shown in the section Format Specifications to use this method.  The file may contain other lines which are ignored by
	      tabs.

									      Note

	      [Tru64 UNIX]  The double dash (--) format is mandatory with this option.

OPERANDS

       Sets tabs at the named column numbers (a list in ascending order, separated by commas).	You can specify up to 40 numbers.  If  any  number
       except  the  first  has	a  plus sign prefix, the prefixed number is added to the previous number for the next setting. Thus, the tab lists
       1,10,20,30 and 1,10,+10,+10 provide the same tab settings.

DESCRIPTION

       If you use the tabs command with no options or operands, the terminal tabs are reset to the system defaults for	your  terminal	type.	If
       only the -T option is used, tabs are reset to the defaults for that terminal type.

       [Tru64  UNIX]  When  you  use the tabs command, always consider the leftmost column number to be 1, even if your terminal refers to it as 0
       (zero).	Tab-stop position n means that tabbing to position n causes the next character output to be in the n+1th column position  on  that
       line.

   Predefined Tab Flags
       [Tru64  UNIX]  The  flags described in the following list provide formats required by most structured programming languages.  Some of these
       flags require that a particular format line be present in the file being manipulated.  This is indicated in the list.  Sets the tabs to	1,
       10, 16, 36, and 72.  Sets the tabs to 1, 10, 16, 40, and 72.  Sets the tabs to 1, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 55 (COBOL normal format) Sets the tabs
       to 1, 6, 10, 14, and 49 (COBOL compact format, columns 1 to 6 omitted).	With this code, the first column position corresponds to card col-
       umn  7.	 One  space gets you to column 8, and a tab reaches column 12.	Files using this code must include the following format specifica-
       tion:

	      <:t-c2  m6  s66  d:>

	      [Tru64 UNIX]  See Format Specifications later in this reference page.  Sets the tabs to 1, 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, 26, 30,  34,  38,  42,
	      46,  50,	54, 58, 62, and 67 (COBOL compact format with more tabs than -c2).  This is the recommended format for COBOL.  Files using
	      this code must include the following format specification:

	      <:t-c3  m6  s66  d:> Sets the tabs to 1, 7, 11, 15, 19, and 23 (FORTRAN).  Sets the tabs to 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29, 33, 37, 41,
	      45, 49, 53, 57, and 61 (PL/I).  Sets the tabs to 1, 10, and 55 (SNOBOL).	Sets the tabs to 1, 12, 20, and 44.

   Format Specifications
       [Tru64  UNIX]  A  format  specification consists of a sequence of arguments separated by blanks and enclosed in brackets and colons: <: :>.
       Each argument consists of a keyletter and an optional value which immediately follows it.  The following  arguments  can  be  used:  [Tru64
       UNIX]  Specifies tab settings.  The value for tabs can be: [Tru64 UNIX]	A list of column numbers separated by commas, indicating tab stops
       at the specified columns.  [Tru64 UNIX]	A - (dash) followed by a number n, specifying tabs stops every n columns.  [Tru64 UNIX]  A  preset
       tab  specification,  for  example -a2.  [Tru64 UNIX]  Specifies a maximum line size, or length.	The size specification must be an integer.
       (The value of size is checked after tabs have been expanded but before the margin is prepended.)  [Tru64 UNIX]  Specifies a number of  spa-
       ces to be inserted at the beginning of each line.  The margin specification must be an integer.	[Tru64 UNIX]  Indicates that the line con-
       taining the format specification is to be deleted from the converted file.

	      [Tru64 UNIX]  If a format specification can be disguised as a comment, for example  * <:t5,10,15 s75 m5:> *,  you  do  not  need	to
	      include  the d keyletter.  [Tru64 UNIX]  Indicates that the current format should prevail only until another format specification is
	      encountered in the file.

       [Tru64 UNIX]  Default values of t-8 and m0 are assumed if t and m arguments are not included in the specification; if s	is  not  included,
       line  size  is not checked.  If the first line of a file does not contain a format specification, these defaults are assumed for the entire
       file.

NOTES

       The tabs command assumes that standard output is the terminal.  If standard output is redirected, the results are unpredicable.	Full oper-
       ation of all capabilities may be restricted by the hardware.

EXIT STATUS

       The following exit values are returned: Successful completion.  An error occurred.

EXAMPLES

       To set tabs every four spaces, enter: tabs -4 To clear all tabs, enter: tabs

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       The  following environment variables affect the execution of tabs: Provides a default value for the internationalization variables that are
       unset or null. If LANG is unset or null, the corresponding value from the default locale is used.  If any of the internationalization vari-
       ables  contain  an  invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none of the variables had been defined.  If set to a non-empty string value,
       overrides the values of all the other internationalization variables.  Determines the locale for the interpretation of sequences  of  bytes
       of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments).	Determines the locale for the for-
       mat and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.  Determines the location of message catalogues  for  the  processing	of
       LC_MESSAGES.  Determines the terminal type if the -T option is not used.

SEE ALSO

       Commands:  expand(1), nroff(1), stty(1), tset(1)

       Standards:  standards(5)

																	   tabs(1)