NAME
pr —
print files
SYNOPSIS
pr |
[+page]
[-column]
[-adFfmprt]
[-e[char][gap]]
[-h
header]
[-i[char][gap]]
[-l lines]
[-n[char][width]]
[-o
offset]
[-s[char]]
[-T
timefmt]
[-w width]
[-] [file
...] |
DESCRIPTION
The
pr utility is a printing and pagination filter for text
files. When multiple input files are specified, each is read, formatted, and
written to standard output. By default, the input is separated into 66-line
pages, each with
- A 5-line header with the page number, date, time, and
the pathname of the file.
- A 5-line trailer consisting of blank lines.
If standard output is associated with a terminal, diagnostic messages are
suppressed until the
pr utility has completed processing.
When multiple column output is specified, text columns are of equal width. By
default text columns are separated by at least one
⟨
blank⟩. Input lines that do not fit into a
text column are truncated. Lines are not truncated under single column output.
OPTIONS
In the following option descriptions, column, lines, offset, page, and width are
positive decimal integers and gap is a nonnegative decimal integer.
-
-
- +page
- Begin output at page number page of
the formatted input.
-
-
- -column
- Produce output that is columns wide
(default is 1) that is written vertically down each column in the order in
which the text is received from the input file. The options
-e and -i are assumed. This option
should not be used with -m. When used with
-t, the minimum number of lines is used to display the
output.
-
-
- -a
- Modify the effect of the -column option
so that the columns are filled across the page in a round-robin order
(e.g., when column is 2, the first input line heads column 1, the second
heads column 2, the third is the second line in column 1, etc.). This
option requires the use of the -column option.
-
-
- -d
- Produce output that is double spaced. An extra
⟨newline⟩ character is output following
every ⟨newline⟩ found in the input.
-
-
- -e[char][gap]
- Expand each input ⟨tab⟩ to the next greater
column position specified by the formula n*gap+1,
where n is an integer > 0. If
gap is zero or is omitted the default is 8. All
⟨tab⟩ characters in the input are expanded
into the appropriate number of ⟨space⟩s.
If any nondigit character, char, is specified, it is
used as the input tab character. If the first character of
char is a digit then char is
treated as gap.
-
-
- -F
- Use a ⟨form-feed⟩ character
for new pages, instead of the default behavior that uses a sequence of
⟨newline⟩ characters.
-
-
- -f
- Same as -F. Additionally pause before
beginning the first page if the standard output is associated with a
terminal.
-
-
- -h
header
- Use the string header to replace the
file name in the header line.
-
-
- -i[char][gap]
- In output, replace multiple ⟨space⟩s with
⟨tab⟩s whenever two or more adjacent ⟨space⟩s
reach column positions gap+1,
2*gap+1, etc. If gap is zero
or omitted, default ⟨tab⟩ settings at
every eighth column position is used. If any nondigit character,
char, is specified, it is used as the output
⟨tab⟩ character. If the first character of
char is a digit then char is
treated as gap.
-
-
- -l
lines
- Override the 66 line default and reset the page length to
lines. If lines is not greater
than the sum of both the header and trailer depths (in lines), the
pr utility suppresses output of both the header and
trailer, as if the -t option were in effect.
-
-
- -m
- Merge the contents of multiple files. One line from each
file specified by a file operand is written side by side into text columns
of equal fixed widths, in terms of the number of column positions. The
number of text columns depends on the number of file operands successfully
opened. The maximum number of files merged depends on page width and the
per process open file limit. The options -e and
-i are assumed.
-
-
- -n[char][width]
- Provide width digit line numbering.
The default for width, if not specified, is 5. The
number occupies the first width column positions of
each text column or each line of -m output. If
char (any nondigit character) is given, it is
appended to the line number to separate it from whatever follows. The
default for char is a
⟨tab⟩. Line numbers longer than
width columns are truncated.
-
-
- -o
offset
- Each line of output is preceded by
offset ⟨space⟩s. If
the -o option is not specified, the default is zero. The
space taken is in addition to the output line width.
-
-
- -p
- Pause before beginning each page if the standard output is
associated with a terminal. pr will write an
⟨alert⟩ to standard error and wait for a
⟨carriage-return⟩ to be read on
/dev/tty.
-
-
- -r
- Write no diagnostic reports on failure to open a file.
-
-
- -s[char]
- Separate text columns by the single character
char instead of by the appropriate number of
⟨space⟩s (default for
char is the ⟨tab⟩
character).
-
-
- -T
- Specify an
strftime(3) format string
to be used to format the date and time information in the page
header.
-
-
- -t
- Print neither the five-line identifying header nor the
five-line trailer usually supplied for each page. Quit printing after the
last line of each file without spacing to the end of the page.
-
-
- -w
width
- Set the width of the line to width
column positions for multiple text-column output only. If the
-w option is not specified and the -s
option is not specified, the default width is 72. If the
-w option is not specified and the -s
option is specified, the default width is 512.
-
-
- file
- A pathname of a file to be printed. If no
file operands are specified, or if a
file operand is ‘-’,
the standard input is used. The standard input is used only if no
file operands are specified, or if a
file operand is
‘-’.
The
-s option does not allow the option letter to be separated
from its argument, and the options
-e,
-i,
and
-n require that both arguments, if present, not be
separated from the option letter.
ERRORS
If
pr receives an interrupt while printing to a terminal, it
flushes all accumulated error messages to the screen before terminating.
The
pr utility exits 0 on success, and 1 if an error occurs.
Error messages are written to standard error during the printing process (if
output is redirected) or after all successful file printing is complete (when
printing to a terminal).
SEE ALSO
cat(1),
more(1),
strftime(3)
STANDARDS
The
pr utility is
IEEE Std 1003.1-2008
(“POSIX.1”) compatible.