fold(1)                                                             fold(1)




 NAME    [Toc]    [Back]
      fold - fold long lines for finite width output device

 SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]
      fold [-b] [-s] [-w width] [file ...]

    Obsolete form:
      fold [-s] [-width] [file ...]

 DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]
      The fold command is a filter that folds the contents of the specified
      files, breaking the lines to have a maximum of width column positions
      (or bytes, if the -b option is specified).  The fold command breaks
      lines by inserting a newline character so that each output line is the
      maximum width possible that does not exceed the specified number of
      column positions (or bytes).  A line cannot be broken in the middle of
      a character.  If no files are specified or if a file name of - is
      specified, the standard input is used.

      The fold command is often used to send text files to line printers
      that truncate, rather than fold, lines wider than the printer is able
      to print.

      If the backspace, tab, or carriage-return characters are encountered
      in the input, and the -b option is not specified, they are treated
      specially as follows:

           Backspace        The current count of line width is decremented
                            by one, although the count never becomes
                            negative.  Thus, the character sequence
                            character-backspace-character counts as using
                            one column position, assuming both characters
                            each occupy a single column position.  fold does
                            not insert a newline character immediately
                            before or after any backspace character.

           Tab              Each tab character encountered advances the
                            column position pointer to the next tab stop.
                            Tab stops are set 8 columns apart at column
                            positions 1, 9, 17, 25, 33, etc.

           Carriage-return  The current count of line width is set to zero.
                            fold does not insert a newline character
                            immediately before or after any carriage-return
                            character.

      Note that fold may affect any underlining that is present.

    Options    [Toc]    [Back]
      The fold command recognizes the following options and command-line
      arguments:



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






 fold(1)                                                             fold(1)




           -b               Count width in bytes rather than in column
                            positions.

           -s               Break the line on the last blank character found
                            before the specified number of column positions
                            (or bytes).  If none are found, break the line
                            at the specified line length.

           -w width         Specify the maximum line length, in column
           -width           positions (or bytes if -b is specified).  The
                            default value is 80.  width should be a multiple
                            of 8 if tabs are present, or the tabs should be
                            expanded using expand before processing by fold
                            (see expand(1)).  The -width option is
                            obsolescent and may be removed in a future
                            release.

 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, fold
      behaves as if all internationalization variables are set to "C".  See
      environ(5).

    International Code Set Support    [Toc]    [Back]
      Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported.

 SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]
      expand(1).

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


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