Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)

FreeBSD Manual Pages

  
 
  

home | help
PR(1)			     General Commands Manual			   PR(1)

NAME
     pr -- print files

SYNOPSIS
     pr [+page] [-column] [-adFfmprt] [[-e] [char] [gap]] [-L locale]
	[-h header] [[-i] [char] [gap]] [-l lines] [-o offset] [[-s] [char]]
	[[-n] [char] [width]] [-w width] [-] [file ...]

DESCRIPTION
     The  pr  utility  is a printing and pagination filter for text files.  When
     multiple input files are specified, each is read, formatted, and written to
     standard output.  By default, the input is separated  into  66-line  pages,
     each with

     *	 A  5-line  header with the page number, date, time, and the pathname of
	 the file.

     *	 A 5-line trailer consisting of blank lines.

     If standard output is associated with a terminal, diagnostic  messages  are
     suppressed until the pr utility has completed processing.

     When  multiple column output is specified, text columns are of equal width.
     By default text columns are separated by at least one <blank>.  Input lines
     that do not fit into a text column are truncated.	Lines are not  truncated
     under single column output.

OPTIONS
     In  the  following  option  descriptions,	column, lines, offset, page, and
     width are positive decimal integers and gap is a nonnegative decimal  inte-
     ger.

     +page
	   Begin output at page number page of the formatted input.

     -column
	   Produce  output  that  is columns wide (default is 1) that is written
	   vertically down each column in the order in which  the  text  is  re-
	   ceived from the input file.	The options -e and -i are assumed.  This
	   option  should  not	be used with -m.  When used with -t, the minimum
	   number of lines is used to display the output.  (To columnify and re-
	   shape text files more generally and	without  additional  formatting,
	   see the rs(1) utility.)

     -a    Modify  the	effect	of  the  -column  option so that the columns are
	   filled across the page in a round-robin order (e.g., when  column  is
	   2,  the  first  input line heads column 1, the second heads column 2,
	   the third is the second line in column 1,  etc.).   This  option  re-
	   quires the use of the -column option.

     -d    Produce  output  that is double spaced.  An extra <newline> character
	   is output following every <newline> found in the input.

     -e [char][gap]
	   Expand each input <tab> to the next greater column position specified
	   by the formula n*gap+1, where n is an integer > 0.  If gap is zero or
	   is omitted the default is 8.  All <tab> characters in the  input  are
	   expanded  into  the	appropriate number of <space>s.  If any nondigit
	   character, char, is specified, it is used as the input tab character.

     -F    Use a <form-feed> character for new pages, instead of the default be-
	   havior that uses a sequence of <newline> characters.

     -f    Same as -F but pause before beginning the first page if standard out-
	   put is a terminal.

     -h header
	   Use the string header to replace the file name in the header line.

     -i [char][gap]
	   In output, replace multiple <space>s with <tab>s whenever two or more
	   adjacent <space>s reach column positions gap+1, 2*gap+1, etc.  If gap
	   is zero or omitted, default <tab> settings at every eighth column po-
	   sition is used.  If any nondigit character, char, is specified, it is
	   used as the output <tab> character.

     -L locale
	   Use locale specified as argument instead of one found in environment.
	   Use "C" to reset locale to default.

     -l lines
	   Override the 66 line default and reset the page length to lines.   If
	   lines  is  not  greater  than  the sum of both the header and trailer
	   depths (in lines), the pr  utility  suppresses  output  of  both  the
	   header and trailer, as if the -t option were in effect.

     -m    Merge the contents of multiple files.  One line from each file speci-
	   fied  by  a file operand is written side by side into text columns of
	   equal fixed widths, in terms of the number of column positions.   The
	   number  of  text  columns depends on the number of file operands suc-
	   cessfully opened.  The maximum number of files merged depends on page
	   width and the per process open file limit.  The options -e and -i are
	   assumed.

     -n [char][width]
	   Provide width digit line numbering.	The default for  width,  if  not
	   specified,  is  5.	The number occupies the first width column posi-
	   tions of each text column or each line of -m output.   If  char  (any
	   nondigit  character)  is  given, it is appended to the line number to
	   separate it from whatever follows.  The default for char is a  <tab>.
	   Line numbers longer than width columns are truncated.

     -o offset
	   Each  line  of output is preceded by offset <spaces>s.  If the -o op-
	   tion is not specified, the default is zero.	The space  taken  is  in
	   addition to the output line width.

     -p    Pause before each page if the standard output is a terminal.  pr will
	   write  an  alert  character to standard error and wait for a carriage
	   return to be read on the terminal.

     -r    Write no diagnostic reports on failure to open a file.

     -s char
	   Separate text columns by the single character char instead of by  the
	   appropriate number of <space>s (default for char is the <tab> charac-
	   ter).

     -t    Print  neither  the	five-line  identifying	header nor the five-line
	   trailer usually supplied for each page.  Quit printing after the last
	   line of each file without spacing to the end of the page.

     -w width
	   Set the width of the line to  width	column	positions  for	multiple
	   text-column	output	only.  If the -w option is not specified and the
	   -s option is not specified, the default width is 72.  If the  -w  op-
	   tion  is  not  specified  and the -s option is specified, the default
	   width is 512.

     file  A pathname of a file to be printed.	If no file operands  are  speci-
	   fied,  or  if a file operand is `-', the standard input is used.  The
	   standard input is used only if no file operands are specified, or  if
	   a file operand is `-'.

     The -s option does not allow the option letter to be separated from its ar-
     gument,  and  the	options  -e,  -i, and -n require that both arguments, if
     present, not be separated from the option letter.

EXIT STATUS
     The pr utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

DIAGNOSTICS
     If pr receives an interrupt while printing to a terminal,	it  flushes  all
     accumulated error messages to the screen before terminating.

     Error  messages  are  written to standard error during the printing process
     (if output is redirected) or after all successful file printing is complete
     (when printing to a terminal).

SEE ALSO
     cat(1), more(1), rs(1)

STANDARDS
     The pr utility is IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 ("POSIX.1") compatible.

HISTORY
     A pr command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.

BUGS
     The pr utility does not recognize multibyte characters.

FreeBSD ports 15.1		  July 3, 2004				   PR(1)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=pr&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+15.1-RELEASE+and+Ports>

home | help