NAME
fmt
- simple text formatter
SYNOPSIS
fmt
[-Cr]
[goal [maximum]]
[name ...]
fmt
[-Cr]
[-g goal]
[-m maximum]
[name ...]
DESCRIPTION
fmt
is a simple text formatter which reads the concatenation of input
files (or standard input if none are given) and produces on standard
output a version of its input with lines as close to the
goal
length as possible without exceeding the
maximum.
The
goal
length defaults to 65 and the
maximum
to 75.
The spacing at the beginning of the input lines is preserved in
the output, as are blank lines and interword spacing.
In non raw mode, lines that look like mail headers or begin with
a period are not formatted.
- -C
-
instructs
fmt
to center the text.
- -g goal
-
New way to set the goal length.
- -m maximum
-
New way to set the maximum length.
- -r
-
Raw mode; formats all lines and does not make exceptions for lines
that start with a period or look like mail headers.
fmt
is meant to format mail messages prior to sending, but may also be useful
for other simple tasks.
For instance, within visual mode of the
ex(1)
editor (e.g.,
vi(1))
the command
!}fmt
will reformat a paragraph, evening the lines.
SEE ALSO
mail(1),
nroff(1)
HISTORY
The
fmt
command appeared in
3BSD.
BUGS
The program was designed to be simple and fast - for more complex
operations, the standard text processors are likely to be more
appropriate.