NAME

expand, unexpand − expand tabs to spaces, and vice versa

SYNOPSIS

expand [ −tabstop ] [ −tab1,tab2,...,tabn ] [ file ...  ]
unexpand [ −a ] [ file ...  ]

DESCRIPTION

Expand processes the named files or the standard input and writes the standard output with tabs changed into blanks.  Backspace characters are preserved into the output and decrement the column count for tab calculations.  Expand is useful for pre-processing character files (before sorting, looking at specific columns, etc.) that contain tabs. 

If a single tabstop argument is given, tabs are set tabstop spaces apart instead of the default 8.  If multiple tabstops are given, the tabs are set at those specific columns. 

Unexpand puts tabs back into the data from the standard input or the named files and writes the result on the standard output.  By default only leading blanks and tabs are reconverted to maximal strings of tabs.  If the −a option is given, tabs are inserted whenever they would compress the resultant file by replacing two or more blanks before a tab stop. 

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

8- and 16-bit data, 8-bit file names. 

Hewlett-Packard Company  —  Version B.1,  May 11, 2021