NAME
expand,
unexpand —
expand tabs to spaces, and vice versa
SYNOPSIS
expand |
[-t
tabstop]
[-t
tab1,tab2,...,tabn]
[file ...] |
unexpand |
[-a]
[-t
tab1,tab2,...,tabn]
[file ...] |
DESCRIPTION
expand processes the named files or the standard input writing
the standard output with tabs changed into blanks. Backspace characters are
preserved into the output and decrement the column count for tab calculations.
expand is useful for pre-processing character files (before
sorting, looking at specific columns, etc.) that contain tabs.
If a single
tabstop argument is given, then tabs are set
tabstop spaces apart instead of the default 8. If
multiple tabstops are given then the tabs are set at those specific columns.
unexpand puts tabs back into the data from the standard input
or the named files and writes the result on the standard output.
Option (with
unexpand only):
-
-
- -a
- By default, only leading blanks and tabs are reconverted to
maximal strings of tabs. If the -a option is given, then
tabs are inserted whenever they would compress the resultant file by
replacing two or more characters.
HISTORY
The
expand command appeared in
1BSD.