expand(1)                                                         expand(1)




 NAME    [Toc]    [Back]
      expand, unexpand - expand tabs to spaces, and vice versa

 SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]
      expand [-t tablist] [file ...]

      unexpand [-a] [-t tablist] [file ...]

    Obsolescent:
      expand [-tabstop] [-tab1,tab2,..., tabn] [file ...]

 DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]
      expand processes the named files or the standard input and writes to
      the standard output with tabs changed into spaces.  Backspace
      characters are preserved in the output, and the column count is
      decreased by one column for tab calculations.  For proper tab
      calculation, if a multi-column character is to be "backspace'd", it
      should be followed by multiple backspace characters which equal to
      it's column width.  If a tab character is found after the last tab
      position, it is replaced by a single space.  expand is useful for
      preprocessing character files that contain tabs (before sorting,
      looking at specific columns, etc).

      expand recognizes the following command-line options and arguments:

           [-t tablist]   tablist specifies where to set the tab positions
                          instead of the default 8.  tablist can take two
                          forms.  If it is a single number, tabs are set
                          tablist spaces apart.  tablist can also be a
                          blank- or comma-separated list of increasing
                          positions where tabs are to be set.

           [-tabstop]     This option is obsolescent and is equivalent to
                          using -t tabstop.

           [-tab1,tab2,...,tabn]
                          This option is obsolescent and is equivalent to
                          using -t tab1,tab2, ...  ,tabn.

      unexpand processes the named files or the standard input and writes to
      the standard output with spaces changed into tabs where possible.  By
      default, only leading spaces and tabs are converted to maximal strings
      of tabs.  The default tab position is every 8 characters.  Backspace
      characters are preserved into the output, and the column count is
      decreased by one column for tab calculations.  For proper tab
      calculation, if a multi-column character is to be "backspace'd", it
      should be followed by multiple backspace characters which equal to
      it's column width.

      unexpand recognizes the following command-line options and arguments:




 Hewlett-Packard Company            - 1 -   HP-UX 11i Version 2: August 2003






 expand(1)                                                         expand(1)




           -a             Tabs are inserted whenever they would compress the
                          resultant file by replacing two or more spaces
                          before a tab position.

           -t tablist     tablist specifies the tab positions.  tablist can
                          take two forms.  If it is a single number, tabs
                          are set every tablist spaces apart.  If tablist is
                          a blank- or comma-separated list of increasing
                          positions, tabs are set at those locations.  The
                          -t option implies the -a option.  If the -t option
                          is not specified, the default is equivalent to
                          specifying -t 8 except that -a is not implied for
                          this case.

 EXTERNAL INFLUENCES    [Toc]    [Back]
    Environment Variables
      LC_CTYPE determines the interpretation of text as single and/or
      multi-byte characters.

      LC_MESSAGES determines the language in which messages are displayed.

      If LC_CTYPE or LC_MESSAGES is not specified in the environment or is
      set to the empty string, the value of LANG is used as a default for
      each unspecified or empty variable.  If LANG is not specified or is
      set to the empty string, a default of "C" (see lang(5)) is used
      instead of LANG.

      If any internationalization variable contains an invalid setting,
      expand and unexpand behave as if all internationalization variables
      are set to "C".  See environ(5).

      If LC_ALL is set to a non-empty string value, it overrides the values
      of all the other internationalization variables.

    International Code Set Support    [Toc]    [Back]
      Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported with the
      exception that unexpand do not recognize multi-byte alternative space
      characters.

 STANDARDS CONFORMANCE    [Toc]    [Back]
      expand: XPG4, POSIX.2

      unexpand: XPG4, POSIX.2


 Hewlett-Packard Company            - 2 -   HP-UX 11i Version 2: August 2003