1PR(1P) POSIX Programmer's Manual PR(1P)
2
6 This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux
7 implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding
8 Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may
9 not be implemented on Linux.
10
12 pr — print files
13
15 pr [+page] [-column] [-adFmrt] [-e[char][gap]] [-h header] [-i[char][gap]]
16 [-l lines] [-n[char][width]] [-o offset] [-s[char]] [-w width] [-fp]
17 [file...]
18
20 The pr utility is a printing and pagination filter. If multiple input
21 files are specified, each shall be read, formatted, and written to
22 standard output. By default, the input shall be separated into 66-line
23 pages, each with:
24 * A 5-line header that includes the page number, date, time, and the
26 pathname of the file
27 * A 5-line trailer consisting of blank lines
29 If standard output is associated with a terminal, diagnostic messages
31 shall be deferred until the pr utility has completed processing.
32 When options specifying multi-column output are specified, output text
34 columns shall be of equal width; input lines that do not fit into a
35 text column shall be truncated. By default, text columns shall be sepa‐
36 rated with at least one <blank>.
37
39 The pr utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of
40 POSIX.1‐2017, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines, except that: the
41 page option has a '+' delimiter; page and column can be multi-digit
42 numbers; some of the option-arguments are optional; and some of the
43 option-arguments cannot be specified as separate arguments from the
44 preceding option letter. In particular, the -s option does not allow
45 the option letter to be separated from its argument, and the options
46 -e, -i, and -n require that both arguments, if present, not be sepa‐
47 rated from the option letter.
48 The following options shall be supported. In the following option
50 descriptions, column, lines, offset, page, and width are positive deci‐
51 mal integers; gap is a non-negative decimal integer.
52 +page Begin output at page number page of the formatted input.
54 -column Produce multi-column output that is arranged in column col‐
56 umns (the default shall be 1) and is written down each column
57 in the order in which the text is received from the input
58 file. This option should not be used with -m. The options -e
59 and -i shall be assumed for multiple text-column output.
60 Whether or not text columns are produced with identical ver‐
61 tical lengths is unspecified, but a text column shall never
62 exceed the length of the page (see the -l option). When used
63 with -t, use the minimum number of lines to write the output.
64 -a Modify the effect of the -column option so that the columns
66 are filled across the page in a round-robin order (for exam‐
67 ple, when column is 2, the first input line heads column 1,
68 the second heads column 2, the third is the second line in
69 column 1, and so on).
70 -d Produce output that is double-spaced; append an extra <new‐
72 line> following every <newline> found in the input.
73 -e[char][gap]
75 Expand each input <tab> to the next greater column position
76 specified by the formula n*gap+1, where n is an integer > 0.
77 If gap is zero or is omitted, it shall default to 8. All
78 <tab> characters in the input shall be expanded into the
79 appropriate number of <space> characters. If any non-digit
80 character, char, is specified, it shall be used as the input
81 <tab>. If the first character of the -e option-argument is a
82 digit, the entire option-argument shall be assumed to be gap.
83 -f Use a <form-feed> for new pages, instead of the default
85 behavior that uses a sequence of <newline> characters. Pause
86 before beginning the first page if the standard output is
87 associated with a terminal.
88 -F Use a <form-feed> for new pages, instead of the default
90 behavior that uses a sequence of <newline> characters.
91 -h header Use the string header to replace the contents of the file op‐
93 erand in the page header.
94 -i[char][gap]
96 In output, replace <space> characters with <tab> characters
97 wherever one or more adjacent <space> characters reach column
98 positions gap+1, 2* gap+1, 3* gap+1, and so on. If gap is
99 zero or is omitted, default tab settings at every eighth col‐
100 umn position shall be assumed. If any non-digit character,
101 char, is specified, it shall be used as the output <tab>. If
102 the first character of the -i option-argument is a digit, the
103 entire option-argument shall be assumed to be gap.
104 -l lines Override the 66-line default and reset the page length to
106 lines. If lines is not greater than the sum of both the
107 header and trailer depths (in lines), the pr utility shall
108 suppress both the header and trailer, as if the -t option
109 were in effect.
110 -m Merge files. Standard output shall be formatted so the pr
112 utility writes one line from each file specified by a file
113 operand, side by side into text columns of equal fixed
114 widths, in terms of the number of column positions. Implemen‐
115 tations shall support merging of at least nine file operands.
116 -n[char][width]
118 Provide width-digit line numbering (default for width shall
119 be 5). The number shall occupy the first width column posi‐
120 tions of each text column of default output or each line of
121 -m output. If char (any non-digit character) is given, it
122 shall be appended to the line number to separate it from
123 whatever follows (default for char is a <tab>).
124 -o offset Each line of output shall be preceded by offset <space> char‐
126 acters. If the -o option is not specified, the default offset
127 shall be zero. The space taken is in addition to the output
128 line width (see the -w option below).
129 -p Pause before beginning each page if the standard output is
131 directed to a terminal (pr shall write an <alert> to standard
132 error and wait for a <carriage-return> to be read on
133 /dev/tty).
134 -r Write no diagnostic reports on failure to open files.
136 -s[char] Separate text columns by the single character char instead of
138 by the appropriate number of <space> characters (default for
139 char shall be <tab>).
140 -t Write neither the five-line identifying header nor the five-
142 line trailer usually supplied for each page. Quit writing
143 after the last line of each file without spacing to the end
144 of the page.
145 -w width Set the width of the line to width column positions for mul‐
147 tiple text-column output only. If the -w option is not speci‐
148 fied and the -s option is not specified, the default width
149 shall be 72. If the -w option is not specified and the -s
150 option is specified, the default width shall be 512.
151 For single column output, input lines shall not be truncated.
153
155 The following operand shall be supported:
156 file A pathname of a file to be written. If no file operands are
158 specified, or if a file operand is '-', the standard input
159 shall be used.
160
162 The standard input shall be used only if no file operands are speci‐
163 fied, or if a file operand is '-'. See the INPUT FILES section.
164
166 The input files shall be text files.
167 The file /dev/tty shall be used to read responses required by the -p
169 option.
170
172 The following environment variables shall affect the execution of pr:
173 LANG Provide a default value for the internationalization vari‐
175 ables that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions vol‐
176 ume of POSIX.1‐2017, Section 8.2, Internationalization Vari‐
177 ables the precedence of internationalization variables used
178 to determine the values of locale categories.)
179 LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of
181 all the other internationalization variables.
182 LC_CTYPE Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of
184 bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as
185 opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments and input
186 files) and which characters are defined as printable (charac‐
187 ter class print). Non-printable characters are still written
188 to standard output, but are not counted for the purpose for
189 column-width and line-length calculations.
190 LC_MESSAGES
192 Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format
193 and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard
194 error.
195 LC_TIME Determine the format of the date and time for use in writing
197 header lines.
198 NLSPATH Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing
200 of LC_MESSAGES.
201 TZ Determine the timezone used to calculate date and time
203 strings written in header lines. If TZ is unset or null, an
204 unspecified default timezone shall be used.
205
207 If pr receives an interrupt while writing to a terminal, it shall flush
208 all accumulated error messages to the screen before terminating.
209
211 The pr utility output shall be a paginated version of the original file
212 (or files). This pagination shall be accomplished using either <form-
213 feed> characters or a sequence of <newline> characters, as controlled
214 by the -F or -f option. Page headers shall be generated unless the -t
215 option is specified. The page headers shall be of the form:
216 "\n\n%s %s Page %d\n\n\n", <output of date>, <file>, <page number>
219 In the POSIX locale, the <output of date> field, representing the date
221 and time of last modification of the input file (or the current date
222 and time if the input file is standard input), shall be equivalent to
223 the output of the following command as it would appear if executed at
224 the given time:
225 date "+%b %e %H:%M %Y"
228 without the trailing <newline>, if the page being written is from stan‐
230 dard input. If the page being written is not from standard input, in
231 the POSIX locale, the same format shall be used, but the time used
232 shall be the modification time of the file corresponding to file
233 instead of the current time. When the LC_TIME locale category is not
234 set to the POSIX locale, a different format and order of presentation
235 of this field may be used.
236 If the standard input is used instead of a file operand, the <file>
238 field shall be replaced by a null string.
239 If the -h option is specified, the <file> field shall be replaced by
241 the header argument.
242
244 The standard error shall be used for diagnostic messages and for alert‐
245 ing the terminal when -p is specified.
246
248 None.
249
251 None.
252
254 The following exit values shall be returned:
255 0 Successful completion.
257 >0 An error occurred.
259
261 Default.
262 The following sections are informative.
264
266 A conforming application must protect its first operand, if it starts
267 with a <plus-sign>, by preceding it with the "--" argument that denotes
268 the end of the options. For example, pr+x could be interpreted as an
269 invalid page number or a file operand.
270
272 1. Print a numbered list of all files in the current directory:
273 ls -a | pr -n -h "Files in $(pwd)."
276 2. Print file1 and file2 as a double-spaced, three-column listing
278 headed by ``file list'':
279 pr -3d -h "file list" file1 file2
282 3. Write file1 on file2, expanding tabs to columns 10, 19, 28, ...:
284 pr -e9 -t <file1 >file2
287
289 This utility is one of those that does not follow the Utility Syntax
290 Guidelines because of its historical origins. The standard developers
291 could have added new options that obeyed the guidelines (and marked the
292 old options obsolescent) or devised an entirely new utility; there are
293 examples of both actions in this volume of POSIX.1‐2017. Because of its
294 widespread use by historical applications, the standard developers
295 decided to exempt this version of pr from many of the guidelines.
296 Implementations are required to accept option-arguments to the -h, -l,
298 -o, and -w options whether presented as part of the same argument or as
299 a separate argument to pr, as suggested by the Utility Syntax Guide‐
300 lines. The -n and -s options, however, are specified as in historical
301 practice because they are frequently specified without their optional
302 arguments. If a <blank> were allowed before the option-argument in
303 these cases, a file operand could mistakenly be interpreted as an
304 option-argument in historical applications.
305 The text about the minimum number of lines in multi-column output was
307 included to ensure that a best effort is made in balancing the length
308 of the columns. There are known historical implementations in which,
309 for example, 60-line files are listed by pr -2 as one column of 56
310 lines and a second of 4. Although this is not a problem when a full
311 page with headers and trailers is produced, it would be relatively use‐
312 less when used with -t.
313 Historical implementations of the pr utility have differed in the
315 action taken for the -f option. BSD uses it as described here for the
316 -F option; System V uses it to change trailing <newline> characters on
317 each page to a <form-feed> and, if standard output is a TTY device,
318 sends an <alert> to standard error and reads a line from /dev/tty
319 before the first page. There were strong arguments from both sides of
320 this issue concerning historical practice and as a result the -F option
321 was added. XSI-conformant systems support the System V historical
322 actions for the -f option.
323 The <output of date> field in the -l format is specified only for the
325 POSIX locale. As noted, the format can be different in other locales.
326 No mechanism for defining this is present in this volume of
327 POSIX.1‐2017, as the appropriate vehicle is a message catalog; that is,
328 the format should be specified as a ``message''.
329
331 None.
332
334 expand, lp
335 The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, Chapter 8, Environment
337 Variables, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines
338
340 Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
341 from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology -- Por‐
342 table Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifi‐
343 cations Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright (C) 2018 by the Institute of
344 Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the
345 event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
346 The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
347 is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online
348 at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .
349 Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are
351 most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source
352 files to man page format. To report such errors, see https://www.ker‐
353 nel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .
354IEEE/The Open Group 2017 PR(1P)