fmt(1)                   USER COMMANDS                     fmt(1)



NAME
     fmt - simple text formatters

SYNOPSIS
     fmt [ -cs ] [ -w width ] [ file...  ]

DESCRIPTION
     fmt is a simple text formatter that fills and joins lines to
     produce  output  lines  of  (up to) the number of characters
     specified in the -w width option.  The default width is  72.
     fmt  concatenates  the  inputfiles  listed as arguments.  If
     none are given, fmt formats text from the standard input.

     Blank lines are preserved in the output, as is  the  spacing
     between  words.   fmt  does  not fill lines beginning with a
     ``.'' (dot), for compatibility with nroff(1).  Nor  does  it
     fill lines starting with ``From:''.

     Indentation is preserved in the output, and input lines with
     differing indentation are not joined (unless -c is used).

     fmt can also be used as an in-line text  filter  for  vi(1);
     the vi command:

          !}fmt

     reformats the text between the cursor location and  the  end
     of the paragraph.

OPTIONS
     -c          Crown margin mode.  Preserve the indentation  of
                 the  first  two  lines  within  a paragraph, and
                 align the left margin of  each  subsequent  line
                 with  that  of  the second line.  This is useful
                 for tagged paragraphs.

     -s          Split lines only.  Do not join  short  lines  to
                 form  longer ones. This prevents sample lines of
                 code, and other such formatted text, from  being
                 unduly combined.

     -w width    Fill output lines to up to width columns.

SEE ALSO
     nroff(1), vi(1)

NOTES
     The -width option is acceptable for BSD  compatibility,  but
     it may go away in future releases.






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