1nl(1) User Commands nl(1)
2
6 nl - line numbering filter
7
9 /usr/bin/nl [-p] [-b [type]] [-d [delim]] [-f [type]]
10 [-h [type]] [-i [incr]] [-l [num]] [-n [format]]
11 [-s [sep]] [-w [width]] [-v [startnum]] [file]
12 /usr/xpg4/bin/nl [-p] [-b type] [-d delim] [-f type]
15 [-h type] [-i incr] [-l num] [-n format] [-s sep]
16 [-w width] [-v startnum] [file]
17
20 The nl utility reads lines from the named file, or the standard input
21 if no file is named, and reproduces the lines on the standard output.
22 Lines are numbered on the left in accordance with the command options
23 in effect.
24 nl views the text it reads in terms of logical pages. Line numbering is
27 reset at the start of each logical page. A logical page consists of a
28 header, a body, and a footer section. Empty sections are valid. Differ‐
29 ent line numbering options are independently available for header,
30 body, and footer. For example, -bt (the default) numbers non-blank
31 lines in the body section and does not number any lines in the header
32 and footer sections.
33 The start of logical page sections are signaled by input lines contain‐
36 ing nothing but the following delimiter character(s):
37 ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
42 │ Line contents │ Start Of │
43 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
44 │\:\:\: │header │
45 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
46 │\:\: │body │
47 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
48 │\: │footer │
49 └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
50 Unless optioned otherwise, nl assumes the text being read is in a sin‐
53 gle logical page body.
54
56 Command options may appear in any order and may be intermingled with an
57 optional file name. Only one file may be named. The specified default
58 is used when the option is not entered on the command line.
59 /usr/xpg4/bin/nl options require option arguments. A SPACE character
60 may separate options from option arguments. /usr/bin/nl options may
61 have option arguments. If option-arguments of /usr/bin/nl options are
62 not specified, these options result in the default. The supported
63 options are:
64 -btype Specifies which logical page body lines are to be num‐
66 bered. Recognized types and their meanings are:
67 a number all lines
69 t number all non-empty lines.
72 n no line numbering
75 pexp number only lines that contain the regular
78 expression specified in exp. See NOTES below.
79 Default type for logical page body is t (text lines num‐
81 bered).
82 -ftype Same as -btype except for footer. Default type for logi‐
85 cal page footer is n (no lines numbered).
86 -ddelim The two delimiter characters specifying the start of a
89 logical page section may be changed from the default
90 characters (\:) to two user-specified characters. If only
91 one character is entered, the second character remains
92 the default character (:). No space should appear between
93 the -d and the delimiter characters. To enter a back‐
94 slash, use two backslashes.
95 -htype Same as -btype except for header. Default type for logi‐
98 cal page header is n (no lines numbered).
99 -iincr incr is the increment value used to number logical page
102 lines. Default incr is 1.
103 -lnum num is the number of blank lines to be considered as one.
106 For example, −l2 results in only the second adjacent
107 blank being numbered (if the appropriate -ha, -ba, and/or
108 -fa option is set). Default num is 1.
109 -nformat format is the line numbering format. Recognized values
112 are:
113 ln left justified, leading zeroes suppressed
115 rn right justified, leading zeroes suppressed
118 rz right justified, leading zeroes kept
121 Default format is rn (right justified).
123 -p Do not restart numbering at logical page delimiters.
126 -ssep sep is the character(s) used in separating the line num‐
129 ber and the corresponding text line. Default sep is a
130 TAB.
131 -vstartnum startnum is the initial value used to number logical page
134 lines. Default startnum is 1.
135 -wwidth width is the number of characters to be used for the line
138 number. Default width is 6.
139
142 The following operand is supported:
143 file A path name of a text file to be line-numbered.
145
148 Example 1 An example of the nl command
149 The command:
152 example% nl -v10 -i10 -d!+ filename1
155 will cause the first line of the page body to be numbered 10, the sec‐
160 ond line of the page body to be numbered 20, the third 30, and so
161 forth. The logical page delimiters are !+.
162
165 See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
166 that affect the execution of nl: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_COLLATE, LC_CTYPE,
167 LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.
168
170 The following exit values are returned:
171 0 Successful completion.
173 >0 An error occurred.
176
179 /usr/lib/locale/locale/LC_COLLATE/CollTable
180 Collation table generated by localedef
182 /usr/lib/locale/locale/LC_COLLATE/coll.so
185 Shared object containing string transformation library routines
187
190 See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
191 /usr/bin/nl
193 ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
194 │ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
195 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
196 │Availability │SUNWesu │
197 └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
198 /usr/xpg4/bin/nl
200 ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
201 │ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
202 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
203 │Availability │SUNWxcu4 │
204 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
205 │Interface Stability │Standard │
206 └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
207
209 pr(1), attributes(5), environ(5), regex(5), regexp(5), standards(5)
210
212 Internationalized Regular Expressions are used in the POSIX and "C"
213 locales. In other locales, Internationalized Regular Expressions are
214 used if the following two conditions are met:
215 o /usr/lib/locale/locale/LC_COLLATE/CollTable is present.
217 o /usr/lib/locale/locale/LC_COLLATE/coll.so is not present.
219 Otherwise, Simple Regular Expressions are used.
222 Internationalized Regular Expressions are explained on regex(5). Simple
225 Regular Expressions are explained on regexp(5).
226SunOS 5.11 28 Mar 1995 nl(1)