NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     vis -- display non-printable characters in a visual format

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     vis [-cbflnostw] [-F foldwidth] [file ...]

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     The vis utility is a filter for converting non-printable characters into
     a visual representation.  It differs from `cat -v' in that the form is
     unique and invertible.  By default, all non-graphic characters except
     space, tab, and newline are encoded.  A detailed description of the various
 visual formats is given in vis(3).

     The options are as follows:

     -b      Turns off prepending of backslash before up-arrow control
	     sequences and meta characters, and disables the doubling of backslashes.
  This produces output which is neither invertible or
	     precise, but does represent a minimum of change to the input.  It
	     is similar to ``cat -v''.

     -c      Request a format which displays a small subset of the non-printable
 characters using C-style backslash sequences.

     -F      Causes vis to fold output lines to foldwidth columns (default
	     80), like fold(1), except that a hidden newline sequence is used,
	     (which is removed when inverting the file back to its original
	     form with unvis(1)).  If the last character in the encoded file
	     does not end in a newline, a hidden newline sequence is appended
	     to the output.  This makes the output usable with various editors
	     and other utilities which typically don't work with partial
	     lines.

     -f      Same as -F.

     -l      Mark newlines with the visible sequence `\$', followed by the
	     newline.

     -n      Turns off any encoding, except for the fact that backslashes are
	     still doubled and hidden newline sequences inserted if -f or -F
	     is selected.  When combined with the -f flag, vis becomes like an
	     invertible version of the fold(1) utility.  That is, the output
	     can be unfolded by running the output through unvis(1).

     -o      Request a format which displays non-printable characters as an
	     octal number, \ddd.

     -s      Only characters considered unsafe to send to a terminal are
	     encoded.  This flag allows backspace, bell, and carriage return
	     in addition to the default space, tab and newline.

     -t      Tabs are also encoded.

     -w      White space (space-tab-newline) is also encoded.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     unvis(1), vis(3)

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     The vis command appeared in 4.4BSD.


FreeBSD 5.2.1			April 19, 1994			 FreeBSD 5.2.1