HP-UX Reference (11i v1 05/09) - 1 User Commands A-M (vol 1)

f
fold(1) fold(1)
NAME
fold - fold long lines for finite width output device
SYNOPSIS
fold [-b][-s][
-w width ][file ... ]
Obsolete form:
fold [-s][-width ][file ... ]
DESCRIPTION
The
fold command is a filter that folds the contents of the specified files, breaking the lines to have a
maximum of width column positions (or bytes, if the
-b option is specified). The fold command breaks
lines by inserting a newline character so that each output line is the maximum width possible that does not
exceed the specified number of column positions (or bytes). A line cannot be broken in the middle of a char-
acter. If no files are specified or if a file name of
- is specified, the standard input is used.
The
fold command is often used to send text files to line printers that truncate, rather than fold, lines
wider than the printer is able to print.
If the backspace, tab, or carriage-return characters are encountered in the input, and the
-b option is not
specified, they are treated specially as follows:
Backspace The current count of line width is decremented by one, although the count never
becomes negative. Thus, the character sequence character-backspace-character
counts as using one column position, assuming both characters each occupy a single
column position.
fold does not insert a newline character immediately before or
after any backspace character.
Tab Each tab character encountered advances the column position pointer to the next
tab stop. Tab stops are set 8 columns apart at column positions 1, 9, 17, 25, 33, etc.
Carriage-return The current count of line width is set to zero.
fold does not insert a newline
character immediately before or after any carriage-return character.
Note that
fold may affect any underlining that is present.
Options
The fold command recognizes the following options and command-line arguments:
-b Count width in bytes rather than in column positions.
-s Break the line on the last blank character found before the specified number of
column positions (or bytes). If none are found, break the line at the specified line
length.
-w width
-width
Specify the maximum line length, in column positions (or bytes if -b is specified).
The default value is 80. width should be a multiple of 8 if tabs are present, or the
tabs should be expanded using expand before processing by fold (see expand(1)).
The -width option is obsolescent and may be removed in a future release.
EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
Environment Variables
LC_CTYPE determines the interpretation of text as single- and/or multi-byte characters.
LC_MESSAGES determines the language in which messages are displayed.
If LC_CTYPE or LC_MESSAGES is not specified in the environment or is set to the empty string, the
value of LANG is used as a default for each unspecified or empty variable. If LANG is not specified or is set
to the empty string, a default of "C" (see lang(5)) is used instead of LANG.
If any internationalization variable contains an invalid setting, fold behaves as if all internationalization
variables are set to "C". See environ(5).
International Code Set Support
Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported.
Section 1−−292 Hewlett-Packard Company − 1 − HP-UX 11i Version 1: September 2005