1.\" $NetBSD: fmt.1,v 1.9 2005/09/11 23:15:20 wiz Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993 4.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 8.\" are met: 9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 13.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 14.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 15.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 16.\" without specific prior written permission. 17.\" 18.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 19.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 20.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 21.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 22.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 23.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 24.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 25.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 26.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 27.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 28.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 29.\" 30.\" @(#)fmt.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93 31.\" 32.Dd June 6, 1993 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 C 41.Oo 42.Ar goal 43.Op Ar maximum 44.Oc 45.Op name ... 46.Sh DESCRIPTION 47.Nm 48is a simple text formatter which reads the concatenation of input 49files (or standard input if none are given) and produces on standard 50output a version of its input with lines as close to the 51.Ar goal 52length as possible without exceeding the 53.Ar maximum . 54The 55.Ar goal 56length defaults to 65 and the 57.Ar maximum 58to 75. 59The spacing at the beginning of the input lines is preserved in 60the output, as are blank lines and interword spacing. 61.Pp 62.Fl C 63instructs 64.Nm fmt 65to center the text. 66.Pp 67.Nm 68is meant to format mail messages prior to sending, but may also be useful 69for other simple tasks. 70For instance, within visual mode of the 71.Xr ex 1 72editor (e.g., 73.Xr vi 1 ) 74the command 75.Pp 76.Dl \&!}fmt 77.Pp 78will reformat a paragraph, evening the lines. 79.Sh SEE ALSO 80.Xr mail 1 , 81.Xr nroff 1 82.Sh HISTORY 83The 84.Nm 85command appeared in 86.Bx 3 . 87.\" .Sh AUTHORS 88.\" Kurt Shoens 89.\" .Pp 90.\" Liz Allen (added goal length concept) 91.Sh BUGS 92The program was designed to be simple and fast \- for more complex 93operations, the standard text processors are likely to be more 94appropriate. 95