NEWFORM(C) UNIX System V
Name
newform - changes the format of a text file
Syntax
newform [-s] [-itabspec] [-otabspec] [-bn] [-en] [-pn]
[-an] [-f] [-cchar] [-ln] [file... ]
Description
newform reads lines from the named files, or the standard
input if no input file is named, and reproduces the lines on
the standard output. Lines are reformatted in accordance
with command line options in effect.
Except for -s, command line options may appear in any order,
may be repeated, and may be intermingled with files.
Command line options are processed in the order typed. This
means that option sequences like ``-e15 -l60'' will yield
results different from ``-l60 -e15''. Options are applied
to all files on the command line.
-itabspec Input tab specification: expands tabs to spaces,
according to the tab specifications given.
Tabspec recognizes all tab specification forms
described below. In addition, tabspec may be --,
in which newform assumes that the tab
specification is to be found in the first line
read from the standard input. If no tabspec is
given, tabspec defaults to -8. A tabspec of -0
expects no tabs; if any are found, they are
treated as -1.
-otabspec Output tab specification: replaces spaces by tabs,
according to the tab specifications given. The
tab specifications are the same as for -itabspec.
If no tabspec is given, tabspec defaults to -8. A
tabspec of -0 means that no spaces will be
converted to tabs on output.
-ln Sets the effective line length to n characters.
If n is not typed, -l defaults to 72. The default
line length without the -l option is 80
characters. Note that tabs and backspaces are
considered to be one character (use -i to expand
tabs to spaces).
-bn Truncates n characters from the beginning of the
line when the line length is greater than the
effective line length (see -ln). The default is
to truncate the number of characters necessary to
obtain the effective line length. The default
value is used when -b with no n is used. This
option can be used to delete the sequence numbers
from a COBOL program as follows:
newform -l1 -b7 file-name
The option -l1 must be used to set the effective line length
shorter than any existing line in the file so that the -b
option is activated.
-en Truncates n characters from the end of the line.
-ck Changes the prefix/append character to k. Default
character for k is a space (see options -p and
-c).
-pn Prefixes n characters (see -ck) to the beginning
of a line when the line length is less than the
effective line length. The default is to prefix
the number of characters necessary to obtain the
effective line length.
-an Appends n characters to the end of a line. The
default is to append the number of characters
necessary to get the effective line length.
-f Writes the tab specification format line on the
standard output before any other lines are output.
The tab specification format line which is printed
will correspond to the format specified in the
last -o option. If no -o option is specified, the
line which is printed will contain the default
specification of -8.
-s Shears off leading characters on each line up to
the first tab and places up to 8 of the sheared
characters at the end of the line. If more than 8
characters (not counting the first tab) are
sheared, the eighth character is replaced by a *
and any characters to the right of it are
discarded. The first tab is always discarded.
An error message and program exit will occur if
this option is used on a file without a tab on
each line. The characters sheared off are saved
internally until all other options specified are
applied to that line. The characters are then
added at the end of the processed line.
Tabs
Four types of tab specification are accepted for tabspec:
``canned,'' repetitive, arbitrary, and file. The lowest
column number is 1. For tabs, column 1 always refers to the
leftmost column on a terminal, even one whose column markers
begin at 0, e.g. the DASI 300, DASI 300S, and DASI 450.
The ``canned'' tabs are given as -code where code (and its
meaning) is from the following list:
-a 1,10,16,36,72
Assembler, IBM S/370, first format
-a2 1,10,16,40,72
Assembler, IBM S/370, second format
-c 1,8,12,16,20,55
COBOL, normal format
-c2 1,6,10,14,49
COBOL compact format (columns 1-6 omitted). Using
this code, the first typed character corresponds
to card column 7, one space gets you to column 8,
and a tab reaches column 12. Files using this tab
setup should include a format specification as
follows:
<:t-c2 m6 s66 d:>
-c3 1,6,10,14,18,22,26,30,34,38,42,46,50,54,58,62,67
COBOL compact format (columns 1-6 omitted), with
more tabs than COBOL -c2. This is the recommended
format for COBOL. The appropriate format
specification is:
<:t-c3 m6 s66 d:>
-f 1,7,11,15,19,23
FORTRAN
-p 1,5,9,13,17,21,25,29,33,37,41,45,53,57,61
PL/I
-s 1,10,55
SNOBOL
-u 1,12,20,44
UNIVAC 1100 Assembler
In addition to these ``canned'' formats, three other types
exist:
-n A repetitive specification requests tabs at
columns 1+n, 1+2*n, etc. Note that such a setting
leaves a left margin of n columns on TermiNet
terminals only. Of particular importance is the
value -8: this represents the UNIX system
``standard'' tab setting, and is the most likely
tab setting to found at a terminal. It is
required for use with nroff(CT) -h option for
high-speed output. Another special case is the
value -0, implying no tabs at all.
n1,n2,... The arbitrary format permits the user to type any
chosen set of number, separated by commas, in
ascending order. Up to 40 numbers are allowed. If
any number (except the first one) is preceded by a
plus sign, it is taken as an increment to be added
to the previous value. Thus, the tab lists
1,10,20,30 and 1,10,+10,+10 are considered
identical.
- -file
If the name of a file is given, newform reads the
first line of the file, searching for a format
specification. If it finds one there, it sets the
tab stops according to it, otherwise it sets them
as -8. This type of specification may be used to
make sure that a tabbed file is printed with
correct tab settings.
Any of the following may be used also; if a given flag
occurs more than once, the last value given takes effect:
-Ttype
newform usually needs to know the type of terminal
in order to set tabs and always needs to know the
type to set margins. type is a name listed in
term(CT). If no -T flag is supplied, newform
searches for the $TERM value in the environment
(see environ(M)). If no type can be found,
newform tries a sequence that will work for many
terminals.
+mn The margin argument may be used for some
terminals. It causes all tabs to be moved over n
columns by making column n+1 the left margin. If
+m is given without a value of n, the value
assumed is 10. For a TermiNet, the first value in
the tab list should be 1, or the margin will move
even further to the right. The normal (leftmost)
margin on most terminals is obtained by +m0. The
margin for most terminals is reset only when the
+m flag is given explicitly.
Example
In the following example, newform converts a file named text
with leading digits, one or more tabs, and text on each line
to a file beginning with the text and the leading digits
placed at the end of each line in column 73 (-s option).
All tabs after the first one are expanded to spaces (-i
option). To reach the line length of 72 characters (-l
option), spaces are appended to each line up to column 72
(-a option) or lines are truncated at column 72 (-e option).
To reformat the sample file text in this manner, enter:
newform -s -i -l -a -e text
Exit Codes
0 - normal execution
1 - for any error
See Also
csplit(C)
Diagnostics
All diagnostics are fatal.
usage: ... newform was called with a bad
option.
not -s format There was no tab on one line.
can't open file Self-explanatory.
internal line too long
A line exceeds 512 characters
after being expanded in the
internal work buffer.
tabspec in error
A tab specification is
incorrectly formatted, or
specified tab stops are not
ascending.
tabspec indirection illegal
A tabspec read from a file (or
standard input) may not contain
a tabspec referencing another
file (or standard input).
Notes
newform normally only keeps track of physical characters;
however, for the -i and -o options, newform will keep track
of backspaces in order to line up tabs in the appropriate
logical columns.
newform will not prompt the user if a tabspec is to be read
from the standard input (by use of -i,-- or -o--).
If the -f option is used, and the last -o option specified
was ``-o--'' , and was preceded by either ``-o--'' or a ``-
i--'' , the tab specification format line will be incorrect.
(printed 8/28/89) NEWFORM(C)