xref: /netbsd-src/usr.bin/fmt/fmt.1 (revision 8b0f9554ff8762542c4defc4f70e1eb76fb508fa)
1.\"	$NetBSD: fmt.1,v 1.10 2007/05/29 15:27:37 christos Exp $
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30.\"     @(#)fmt.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
31.\"
32.Dd May 29, 2007
33.Dt FMT 1
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm fmt
37.Nd simple text formatter
38.Sh SYNOPSIS
39.Nm
40.Op Fl Cr
41.Oo
42.Ar goal
43.Op Ar maximum
44.Oc
45.Op name ...
46.Nm
47.Op Fl Cr
48.Op Fl g Ar goal
49.Op Fl m Ar maximum
50.Op name ...
51.Sh DESCRIPTION
52.Nm
53is a simple text formatter which reads the concatenation of input
54files (or standard input if none are given) and produces on standard
55output a version of its input with lines as close to the
56.Ar goal
57length as possible without exceeding the
58.Ar maximum .
59The
60.Ar goal
61length defaults to 65 and the
62.Ar maximum
63to 75.
64The spacing at the beginning of the input lines is preserved in
65the output, as are blank lines and interword spacing.
66In non raw mode, lines that look like mail headers or begin with
67a period are not formatted.
68.Pp
69.Bl -tag -indent
70.It Fl C
71instructs
72.Nm
73to center the text.
74.It Fl g Ar goal
75New way to set the goal length.
76.It Fl m Ar maximum
77New way to set the maximum length.
78.It Fl r
79Raw mode; formats all lines and does not make exceptions for lines
80that start with a period or look like mail headers.
81.El
82.Pp
83.Nm
84is meant to format mail messages prior to sending, but may also be useful
85for other simple tasks.
86For instance, within visual mode of the
87.Xr ex 1
88editor (e.g.,
89.Xr vi 1 )
90the command
91.Pp
92.Dl \&!}fmt
93.Pp
94will reformat a paragraph, evening the lines.
95.Sh SEE ALSO
96.Xr mail 1 ,
97.Xr nroff 1
98.Sh HISTORY
99The
100.Nm
101command appeared in
102.Bx 3 .
103.\" .Sh AUTHORS
104.\" Kurt Shoens
105.\" .Pp
106.\" Liz Allen (added goal length concept)
107.Sh BUGS
108The program was designed to be simple and fast \- for more complex
109operations, the standard text processors are likely to be more
110appropriate.
111