User Commands newform(1)
NAME
newform - change the format of a text file
SYNOPSIS
newform [-s] [-itabspec] [-otabspec] [-bn] [-en] [-pn]
[-an] [-f] [-cchar] [-ln] [filename]...
DESCRIPTION
newform reads lines from the named filenames, or the stan-
dard 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 the optional filenames. Command line options are processed in the orderspecified. This means that option sequences like ``-e15
-l60'' will yield results different from ``-l60 -e15''.
Options are applied to all filenames on the command line. OPTIONS The following options are supported:-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 optionsspecified are applied to that line. The char-
acters are then added at the end of the pro-
cessed line. For example, to convert a file with leading digits, one or more tabs, and text on each line, to a file beginning with the text, alltabs after the first expanded to spaces, pad-
ded with spaces out to column 72 (or truncated to column 72), and the leading digits placed starting at column 73, the command would be:newform -s -i -l -a -e filename
SunOS 5.11 Last change: 21 Jul 1997 1
User Commands newform(1)
-itabspec Input tab specification: expands tabs to
spaces, according to the tab specificationsgiven. Tabspec recognizes all tab specifica-
tion forms described in tabs(1). 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 (see fspec(4)). If no tabspec is given,tabspec defaults to -8. A tabspec of -0
expects no tabs; if any are found, they aretreated as -1.
-otabspec Output tab specification: replaces spaces by
tabs, according to the tab specifications given. The tab specifications are the same asfor -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.-bn Truncate n characters from the beginning of
the line when the line length is greater thanthe effective line length (see -ln). Default
is to truncate the number of characters neces-
sary to obtain the effective line length. Thedefault value is used when -b with no n is
used. This option can be used to delete thesequence numbers from a COBOL program as fol-
lows:newform -l1 -b7 filename
-en Same as -bn except that characters are trun-
cated from the end of the line.-pn Prefix n characters (see -cchar) to the begin-
ning of a line when the line length is less than the effective line length. Default is to prefix the number of characters necessary to obtain the effective line length.-an Same as -pn except characters are appended to
the end of a line.-f Write the tab specification format line on the
standard output before any other lines are output. The tab specification format lineSunOS 5.11 Last change: 21 Jul 1997 2
User Commands newform(1)
which is printed will correspond to the formatspecified in the last -o option. If no -o
option is specified, the line which is printedwill contain the default specification of -8.
-cchar Change the prefix/append character to char.
Default character for char is a space.-ln Set the effective line length to n characters.
If n is not entered, -l defaults to 72. The
default line length without the -l option is
80 characters. Note: Tabs and backspaces areconsidered to be one character (use -i to
expand tabs to spaces).The -l1 must be used to set the effective line
length shorter than any existing line in thefile so that the -b option is activated.
OPERANDS The following operand is supported: filename Input file EXIT STATUS The following exit values are returned: 0 Successful operation. 1 Operation failed.ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
| Availability SUNWesu ||___________________________________________________________|
SEE ALSO
csplit(1), tabs(1), fspec(4), attributes(5)SunOS 5.11 Last change: 21 Jul 1997 3
User Commands newform(1)
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 speci-
fied 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). NOTESnewform 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 a -o- or a -i-, the tab
specification format line will be incorrect.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 21 Jul 1997 4