newform(1)
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newform Command
change the format of a text file
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SYNTAX
newform [-s] [-itabspec] [-otabspec] [-bn] [-en] [-pn] [-an] [-f]
[-cchar] [-ln] [files]
DESCRIPTION
Newform reads lines from the named files, or the standard input
if no input file is named, and reproduces the lines on the
standard output. Lines are reformatted in accordance with
command line options in effect.
Except for -s, command line options may appear in any order, may
be repeated, and may be intermingled with the optional files.
Command line options are processed in the order specified. This
means that option sequences like ``-e15 -l60'' will yield results
different from ``-l60 -e15''. Options are applied to all files
on the command line.
-itabspec Input tab specification: expands tabs to spaces,
according to the tab specifications given. Tabspec
recognizes all tab specification forms described in
tabs(1). In addition, tabspec may be --, in which
newform assumes that the tab specification is to be
found in the first line read from the standard input
(see fspec(4)). If no tabspec is given, tabspec
defaults to -8. A tabspec of -0 expects no tabs; if
any are found, they are treated as -1.
-otabspec Output tab specification: replaces spaces by tabs,
according to the tab specifications given. The tab
specifications are the same as for -itabspec. If no
tabspec is given, tabspec defaults to -8. A tabspec of
-0 means that no spaces will be converted to tabs on
output.
-ln Set the effective line length to n characters. If n is
not entered, -l defaults to 72. The default line
length without the -l option is 80 characters. Note
that tabs and backspaces are considered to be one
character (use -i to expand tabs to spaces).
-bn Truncate n characters from the beginning of the line
when the line length is greater than the effective line
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newform(1)
length (see -ln). Default is to truncate the number of
characters necessary to obtain the effective line
length. The default value is used when -b with no n is
used. This option can be used to delete the sequence
numbers from a COBOL program as follows:
newform -l1 -b7 file-name
The -l1 must be used to set the effective line length
shorter than any existing line in the file so that the
-b option is activated.
-en Same as -bn except that characters are truncated from
the end of the line.
-ck Change the prefix/append character to k. Default
character for k is a space.
-pn Prefix n characters (see -ck) to the beginning of a
line when the line length is less than the effective
line length. Default is to prefix the number of
characters necessary to obtain the effective line
length.
-an Same as -pn except characters are appended to the end
of a line.
-f Write the tab specification format line on the standard
output before any other lines are output. The tab
specification format line which is printed will
correspond to the format specified in the last -o
option. If no -o option is specified, the line which
is printed will contain the default specification of
-8.
-s Shears off leading characters on each line up to the
first tab and places up to 8 of the sheared characters
at the end of the line. If more than 8 characters (not
counting the first tab) are sheared, the eighth
character is replaced by a * and any characters to the
right of it are discarded. The first tab is always
discarded.
An error message and program exit will occur if this
option is used on a file without a tab on each line.
The characters sheared off are saved internally until
all other options specified are applied to that line.
The characters are then added at the end of the
processed line.
For example, to convert a file with leading digits, one
or more tabs, and text on each line, to a file
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newform(1)
beginning with the text, all tabs after the first
expanded to spaces, padded with spaces out to column 72
(or truncated to column 72), and the leading digits
placed starting at column 73, the command would be:
newform -s -i -l -a -e file-name
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EXAMPLES
$ newform -l31 -b19 -e1 newformfile
This command will read the file "newform_file" and reformat it to
the given specifications: set output line length to 31 characters
and to achieve this, truncate 19 characters from the front of
each line and truncate 1 character from the end of each line,
then display the result on the standard output. Other options
allow for the expanding of tabs and padding of lines to a new
length.
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DIAGNOSTICS
All diagnostics are fatal.
usage: ... Newform was called with a bad
option.
not -s format There was no tab on one line.
can't open file Self-explanatory.
internal line too long A line exceeds 512 characters after
being expanded in the internal work
buffer.
tabspec in error A tab specification is incorrectly
formatted, or specified tab stops
are not ascending.
tabspec indirection illegal A tabspec read from a file (or
standard input) may not contain a
tabspec referencing another file (or
standard input).
EXIT CODES
0 - normal execution
1 - for any error
SEE ALSO
csplit(1), tabs(1).
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fspec(4) in the Programmer's Reference for the DG/UX System
BUGS
Newform normally only keeps track of physical characters;
however, for the -i and -o options, newform will keep track of
backspaces in order to line up tabs in the appropriate logical
columns.
Newform will not prompt the user if a tabspec is to be read from
the standard input (by use of -i-- or -o--).
If the -f option is used, and the last -o option specified was
-o--, and was preceded by either a -o-- or a -i--, the tab
specification format line will be incorrect.
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