xref: /minix3/usr.bin/fmt/fmt.1 (revision 5ae330e220636de2b9caa5a69c059adc48b46444)

.\"	$NetBSD: fmt.1,v 1.13 2012/06/30 21:31:15 christos Exp $
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.\"     @(#)fmt.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
.\"
.Dd June 31, 2012
.Dt FMT 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm fmt
.Nd simple text formatter
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Op Fl Cr
.Oo
.Ar goal
.Op Ar maximum
.Oc
.Op name ...
.Nm
.Op Fl Cr
.Op Fl g Ar goal
.Op Fl m Ar maximum
.Op Fl w Ar maximum
.Op name ...
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm
is a simple text formatter which reads the concatenation of input
files (or standard input if none are given) and produces on standard
output a version of its input with lines as close to the
.Ar goal
length as possible without exceeding the
.Ar maximum .
The
.Ar goal
length defaults to 65 and the
.Ar maximum
to 75.
The spacing at the beginning of the input lines is preserved in
the output, as are blank lines and interword spacing.
In non raw mode, lines that look like mail headers or begin with
a period are not formatted.
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width ".Fl m Ar maximum"
.It Fl C
instructs
.Nm
to center the text.
.It Fl g Ar goal
New way to set the goal length.
.It Fl m Ar maximum
New way to set the maximum length.
.It Fl w Ar maximum
New way to set the maximum length.
.It Fl r
Raw mode; formats all lines and does not make exceptions for lines
that start with a period or look like mail headers.
.El
.Pp
.Nm
is meant to format mail messages prior to sending, but may also be useful
for other simple tasks.
For instance, within visual mode of the
.Xr ex 1
editor (e.g.,
.Xr vi 1 )
the command
.Pp
.Dl \&!}fmt
.Pp
will reformat a paragraph, evening the lines.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr mail 1 ,
.Xr nroff 1
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
command appeared in
.Bx 3 .
.\" .Sh AUTHORS
.\" Kurt Shoens
.\" .Pp
.\" Liz Allen (added goal length concept)
.Sh BUGS
The program was designed to be simple and fast \- for more complex
operations, the standard text processors are likely to be more
appropriate.