NAME

expand − expand tabs to spaces

SYNOPSIS

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

DESCRIPTION

Expand processes the named files or the standard input writing 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. 

AUTHOR

Bill Joy

BUGS

7th Edition  —  2/24/79