NL(1P) POSIX Programmer's Manual NL(1P)
PROLOG
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the correspond-
ing Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.
NAME
nl - line numbering filter
SYNOPSIS
nl [-p][-b type][-d delim][-f type][-h type][-i incr][-l num][-n format]
[-s sep][-v startnum][-w width][file]
DESCRIPTION
The nl utility shall read lines from the named file or the standard input if no file is named and shall reproduce the lines to standard
output. Lines shall be numbered on the left. Additional functionality may be provided in accordance with the command options in effect.
The nl utility views the text it reads in terms of logical pages. Line numbering shall be reset at the start of each logical page. A logi-
cal page consists of a header, a body, and a footer section. Empty sections are valid. Different line numbering options are independently
available for header, body, and footer (for example, no numbering of header and footer lines while numbering blank lines only in the body).
The starts of logical page sections shall be signaled by input lines containing nothing but the following delimiter characters:
Line Start of
::: Header
:: Body
: Footer
Unless otherwise specified, nl shall assume the text being read is in a single logical page body.
OPTIONS
The nl utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines. Only one
file can be named.
The following options shall be supported:
-b type
Specify which logical page body lines shall be numbered. Recognized types and their meaning are:
a
Number all lines.
t
Number only non-empty lines.
n
No line numbering.
pstring
Number only lines that contain the basic regular expression specified in string.
The default type for logical page body shall be t (text lines numbered).
-d delim
Specify the delimiter characters that indicate the start of a logical page section. These can be changed from the default characters
":" to two user-specified characters. If only one character is entered, the second character shall remain the default character ':'
.
-f type
Specify the same as b type except for footer. The default for logical page footer shall be n (no lines numbered).
-h type
Specify the same as b type except for header. The default type for logical page header shall be n (no lines numbered).
-i incr
Specify the increment value used to number logical page lines. The default shall be 1.
-l num
Specify the number of blank lines to be considered as one. For example, -l 2 results in only the second adjacent blank line being
numbered (if the appropriate -h a, -b a, or -f a option is set). The default shall be 1.
-n format
Specify the line numbering format. Recognized values are: ln, left justified, leading zeros suppressed; rn, right justified, leading
zeros suppressed; rz, right justified, leading zeros kept. The default format shall be rn (right justified).
-p Specify that numbering should not be restarted at logical page delimiters.
-s sep
Specify the characters used in separating the line number and the corresponding text line. The default sep shall be a <tab>.
-v startnum
Specify the initial value used to number logical page lines. The default shall be 1.
-w width
Specify the number of characters to be used for the line number. The default width shall be 6.
OPERANDS
The following operand shall be supported:
file A pathname of a text file to be line-numbered.
STDIN
The standard input is a text file that is used if no file operand is given.
INPUT FILES
The input file named by the file operand is a text file.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The following environment variables shall affect the execution of nl:
LANG Provide a default value for the internationalization variables that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions volume of
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 8.2, Internationalization Variables for the precedence of internationalization variables used to
determine the values of locale categories.)
LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all the other internationalization variables.
LC_COLLATE
Determine the locale for the behavior of ranges, equivalence classes, and multi-character collating elements within regular expres-
sions.
LC_CTYPE
Determine 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 and input files), the behavior of character classes within regular expressions, and for deciding
which characters are in character class graph (for the -b t, -f t, and -h t options).
LC_MESSAGES
Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.
NLSPATH
Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of LC_MESSAGES .
ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
Default.
STDOUT
The standard output shall be a text file in the following format:
"%s%s%s", <line number>, <separator>, <input line>
where <line number> is one of the following numeric formats:
%6d When the rn format is used (the default; see -n).
%06d When the rz format is used.
%-6d When the ln format is used.
<empty>
When line numbers are suppressed for a portion of the page; the <separator> is also suppressed.
In the preceding list, the number 6 is the default width; the -w option can change this value.
STDERR
The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.
OUTPUT FILES
None.
EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
None.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values shall be returned:
0 Successful completion.
>0 An error occurred.
CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
Default.
The following sections are informative.
APPLICATION USAGE
In using the -d delim option, care should be taken to escape characters that have special meaning to the command interpreter.
EXAMPLES
The command:
nl -v 10 -i 10 -d !+ file1
numbers file1 starting at line number 10 with an increment of 10. The logical page delimiter is "!+" . Note that the '!' has to be escaped
when using csh as a command interpreter because of its history substitution syntax. For ksh and sh the escape is not necessary, but does
not do any harm.
RATIONALE
None.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
pr
COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technol-
ogy -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE
and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained
online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .
IEEE
/The Open Group 2003 NL(1P)