1ASA(P) POSIX Programmer's Manual ASA(P)
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6 asa - interpret carriage-control characters
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9 asa [ file ... ]
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12 The asa utility shall write its input files to standard output, mapping
13 carriage-control characters from the text files to line-printer control
14 sequences in an implementation-defined manner.
15 The first character of every line shall be removed from the input, and
17 the following actions are performed.
18 If the character removed is:
20 <space>
22 The rest of the line is output without change.
23 0 A <newline> is output, then the rest of the input line.
25 1 One or more implementation-defined characters that causes an
27 advance to the next page shall be output, followed by the rest
28 of the input line.
29 + The <newline> of the previous line shall be replaced with one or
31 more implementation-defined characters that causes printing to
32 return to column position 1, followed by the rest of the input
33 line. If the '+' is the first character in the input, it shall
34 be equivalent to <space>.
35 The action of the asa utility is unspecified upon encountering any
38 character other than those listed above as the first character in a
39 line.
40
42 None.
43
45 file A pathname of a text file used for input. If no file operands
46 are specified, the standard input shall be used.
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50 The standard input shall be used only if no file operands are speci‐
51 fied; see the INPUT FILES section.
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54 The input files shall be text files.
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57 The following environment variables shall affect the execution of asa:
58 LANG Provide a default value for the internationalization variables
60 that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions volume of
61 IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 8.2, Internationalization Vari‐
62 ables for the precedence of internationalization variables used
63 to determine the values of locale categories.)
64 LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all
66 the other internationalization variables.
67 LC_CTYPE
69 Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of
70 bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as
71 opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments and input files).
72 LC_MESSAGES
74 Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format
75 and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.
76 NLSPATH
78 Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of
79 LC_MESSAGES .
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83 Default.
84
86 The standard output shall be the text from the input file modified as
87 described in the DESCRIPTION section.
88
90 None.
91
93 None.
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96 None.
97
99 The following exit values shall be returned:
100 0 All input files were output successfully.
102 >0 An error occurred.
104
107 Default.
108 The following sections are informative.
110
112 None.
113
115 1. The following command:
116 asa file
119 permits the viewing of file (created by a program using FORTRAN-style
121 carriage-control characters) on a terminal.
122 2. The following command:
124 a.out | asa | lp
127 formats the FORTRAN output of a.out and directs it to the printer.
129
131 The asa utility is needed to map "standard" FORTRAN 77 output into a
132 form acceptable to contemporary printers. Usually, asa is used to pipe
133 data to the lp utility; see lp.
134 This utility is generally used only by FORTRAN programs. The standard
136 developers decided to retain asa to avoid breaking the historical large
137 base of FORTRAN applications that put carriage-control characters in
138 their output files. There is no requirement that a system have a FOR‐
139 TRAN compiler in order to run applications that need asa.
140 Historical implementations have used an ASCII <form-feed> in response
142 to a 1 and an ASCII <carriage-return> in response to a '+' . It is sug‐
143 gested that implementations treat characters other than 0, 1, and '+'
144 as <space> in the absence of any compelling reason to do otherwise.
145 However, the action is listed here as "unspecified", permitting an
146 implementation to provide extensions to access fast multiple-line slew‐
147 ing and channel seeking in a non-portable manner.
148
150 None.
151
153 fort77 , lp
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156 Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
157 from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
158 -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
159 Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
160 Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the
161 event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
162 The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
163 is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online
164 at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .
165IEEE/The Open Group 2003 ASA(P)