NEWFORM(1)NEWFORM(1)NAMEnewform - change the format of a text file
SYNOPSISnewform [-s] [-itabspec] [-otabspec] [-bn] [-en] [-pn]
[-an] [-f] [-cchar] [-ln] [filename]...
DESCRIPTIONnewform reads lines from the named filenames, or the standard input if
no input file is named, and reproduces the lines on the standard out‐
put. 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 order specified. 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 options specified are applied to that line. The
characters are then added at the end of the processed
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, all tabs after the first expanded to spa‐
ces, padded 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
-itabspec
Input tab specification: expands tabs to spaces, accord‐
ing to the tab specifications given. Tabspec recognizes
all tab specification 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 tab‐
spec 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 speci‐
fications 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.
-bn
Truncate n characters from the beginning of the line when
the line length is greater than the effective line length
(see −ln). Default is to truncate the number of charac‐
ters 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 filename
-en
Same as -bn except that characters are truncated from the
end of the line.
-pn
Prefix n characters (see -cchar) to the beginning 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 speci‐
fication 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 con‐
tain the default specification of −8.
-cchar
Change the prefix/append character to char. Default char‐
acter 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 are considered 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 the file 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.
SEE ALSOcsplit(1), tabs(1), fspec(4), attributes(5)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).
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.
Jul 21, 1997 NEWFORM(1)
