expand(1-BSD) MISC. REFERENCE MANUAL PAGES expand(1-BSD)
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 writ-
ing 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, then tabs are set
tabstop spaces apart instead of the default 8. If multiple
tabstops are given then 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 stan-
dard output. By default, only leading blanks and tabs are
reconverted to maximal strings of tabs. If the -a option is
given, then tabs are inserted whenever they would compress
the resultant file by replacing two or more characters.
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