1expand(1) User Commands expand(1)
2
6 expand, unexpand - expand TAB characters to SPACE characters, and vice
7 versa
8
10 expand [-t tablist] [file]...
11 expand [-tabstop] [-tab1, tab2,. . ., tabn] [file]...
14 unexpand [-a] [-t tablist] [file]...
17
20 The expand utility copies files (or the standard input) to the standard
21 output, with TAB characters expanded to SPACE characters. BACKSPACE
22 characters are preserved into the output and decrement the column count
23 for TAB calculations. expand is useful for pre-processing character
24 files (before sorting, looking at specific columns, and so forth) that
25 contain TAB characters.
26 unexpand copies files (or the standard input) to the standard output,
29 putting TAB characters back into the data. By default, only leading
30 SPACE and TAB characters are converted to strings of tabs, but this can
31 be overridden by the -a option (see the OPTIONS section below).
32
34 The following options are supported for expand:
35 -t tablist Specifies the tab stops. The argument tablist
37 must consist of a single positive decimal
38 integer or multiple positive decimal inte‐
39 gers, separated by blank characters or com‐
40 mas, in ascending order. If a single number
41 is given, tabs will be set tablist column
42 positions apart instead of the default 8. If
43 multiple numbers are given, the tabs will be
44 set at those specific column positions.
45 Each tab-stop position N must be an integer
47 value greater than zero, and the list must be
48 in strictly ascending order. This is taken to
49 mean that, from the start of a line of out‐
50 put, tabbing to position N causes the next
51 character output to be in the (N+1)th column
52 position on that line.
53 In the event of expand having to process a
55 tab character at a position beyond the last
56 of those specified in a multiple tab-stop
57 list, the tab character is replaced by a sin‐
58 gle space character in the output.
59 -tabstop Specifies as a single argument, sets TAB
62 characters tabstop SPACE characters apart
63 instead of the default 8.
64 -tab1,tab2,...,tabn Sets TAB characters at the columns specified
67 by -tab1,tab2,...,tabn
68 The following options are supported for unexpand:
72 -a Inserts TAB characters when replacing a run of two or
74 more SPACE characters would produce a smaller output
75 file.
76 -t tablist Specifies the tab stops. The option-argument tablist
79 must be a single argument consisting of a single posi‐
80 tive decimal integer or multiple positive decimal inte‐
81 gers, separated by blank characters or commas, in
82 ascending order. If a single number is given, tabs will
83 be set tablist column positions apart instead of the
84 default 8. If multiple numbers are given, the tabs will
85 be set at those specific column positions. Each tab-stop
86 position N must be an integer value greater than zero,
87 and the list must be in strictly ascending order. This
88 is taken to mean that, from the start of a line of out‐
89 put, tabbing to position N will cause the next character
90 output to be in the (N+1)th column position on that
91 line. When the -t option is not specified, the default
92 is the equivalent of specifying -t 8 (except for the
93 interaction with -a, described below).
94 No space-to-tab character conversions occur for charac‐
96 ters at positions beyond the last of those specified in
97 a multiple tab-stop list.
98 When -t is specified, the presence or absence of the -a
100 option is ignored; conversion will not be limited to the
101 processing of leading blank characters.
102
105 The following ooperand is supported for expand and unexpand:
106 file The path name of a text file to be used as input.
108
111 See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
112 that affect the execution of expand and unexpand: LANG, LC_ALL,
113 LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.
114
116 The following exit values are returned:
117 0 Successful completion
119 >0 An error occurred.
122
125 See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
126 ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
131 │ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
132 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
133 │Availability │SUNWesu │
134 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
135 │CSI │enabled │
136 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
137 │Interface Stability │Standard │
138 └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
139
141 tabs(1), attributes(5), environ(5), standards(5)
142SunOS 5.11 1 Feb 1995 expand(1)