


      NEWFORM(1)                  (UNIX 5.0)                 NEWFORM(1)



      NAME
           newform - change the format of a text file

      SYNTAX
           newform [-s] [-itabspec] [-otabspec] [-bn] [-en] [-pn] [-an]
           [-f] [-cchar] [-ln] [files]

      DESCRIPTION
           Newform reads lines from the named files, or the standard
           input if no input file is named, and reproduces the lines on
           the standard output.  Lines are reformatted in accordance
           with command line options in effect.

           Except for -s, command line options may appear in any order,
           may be repeated, and may be intermingled with the optional
           files.  Command line options are processed in the order
           specified.  This means that option sequences like ``-e15
           -l60'' will yield results different from ``-l60 -e15''.
           Options are applied to all files on the command line.

           -itabspec Input tab specification:  expands tabs to spaces,
                     according to the tab specifications given.
                     Tabspec recognizes all tab specification forms
                     described in tabs(1).  In addition, tabspec may be
                     --, in which newform assumes that the tab
                     specification is to be found in the first line
                     read from the standard input (see fspec(4)).  If
                     no tabspec is given, tabspec defaults to -8.  A
                     tabspec of -0 expects no tabs; if any are found,
                     they are treated as -1.

           -otabspec Output tab specification:  replaces spaces by
                     tabs, according to the tab specifications given.
                     The tab specifications are the same as for
                     -itabspec.  If no tabspec is given, tabspec
                     defaults to -8.  A tabspec of -0 means that no
                     spaces will be converted to tabs on output.

           -ln       Set the effective line length to n characters.  If
                     n is not entered, -l defaults to 72.  The default
                     line length without the -l option is 80
                     characters.  Note that tabs and backspaces are
                     considered to be one character (use -i to expand
                     tabs to spaces).

           -bn       Truncate n characters from the beginning of the
                     line when the line length is greater than the
                     effective line length (see -ln).  Default is to
                     truncate the number of characters necessary to
                     obtain the effective line length.  The default
                     value is used when -b with no n is used.  This
                     option can be used to delete the sequence numbers



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      NEWFORM(1)                  (UNIX 5.0)                 NEWFORM(1)



                     from a COBOL program as follows:
                               newform -l1 -b7 file-name

                     The -l1 must be used to set the effective line
                     length shorter than any existing line in the file
                     so that the -b option is activated.

           -en       Same as -bn except that characters are truncated
                     from the end of the line.

           -ck       Change the prefix/append character to k.  Default
                     character for k is a space.

           -pn       Prefix n characters (see -ck) to the beginning of
                     a line when the line length is less than the
                     effective line length.  Default is to prefix the
                     number of characters necessary to obtain the
                     effective line length.

           -an       Same as -pn except characters are appended to the
                     end of a line.

           -f        Write the tab specification format line on the
                     standard output before any other lines are output.
                     The tab specification format line which is printed
                     will correspond to the format specified in the
                     last -o option.  If no -o option is specified, the
                     line which is printed will contain the default
                     specification of -8.

           -s        Shears off leading characters on each line up to
                     the first tab and places up to 8 of the sheared
                     characters at the end of the line.  If more than 8
                     characters (not counting the first tab) are
                     sheared, the eighth character is replaced by a *
                     and any characters to the right of it are
                     discarded.  The first tab is always discarded.

                     An error message and program exit will occur if
                     this option is used on a file without a tab on
                     each line.  The characters sheared off are saved
                     internally until all other options specified are
                     applied to that line.  The characters are then
                     added at the end of the processed line.

                     For example, to convert a file with leading
                     digits, one or more tabs, and text on each line,
                     to a file beginning with the text, all tabs after
                     the first expanded to spaces, padded with spaces
                     out to column 72 (or truncated to column 72), and
                     the leading digits placed starting at column 73,
                     the command would be:



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      NEWFORM(1)                  (UNIX 5.0)                 NEWFORM(1)



                               newform -s -i -l -a -e file-name

      DIAGNOSTICS
           All diagnostics are fatal.
           usage: ...                   Newform was called with a bad
                                        option.
           not -s format                There was no tab on one line.
           can't open file              Self explanatory.
           internal line too long       A line exceeds 512 characters
                                        after being expanded in the
                                        internal work buffer.
           tabspec in error             A tab specification is
                                        incorrectly formatted, or
                                        specified tab stops are not
                                        ascending.
           tabspec indirection illegal  A tabspec read from a file (or
                                        standard input) may not contain
                                        a tabspec referencing another
                                        file (or standard input).

      EXIT CODES
           0 - normal execution
           1 - for any error

      SEE ALSO
           csplit(1), tabs(1), fspec(4).

      BUGS
           Newform normally only keeps track of physical characters;
           however, for the -i and -o options, newform will keep track
           of backspaces in order to line up tabs in the appropriate
           logical columns.

           Newform will not prompt the user if a tabspec is to be read
           from the standard input (by use of -i-- or -o--).

           If the -f option is used, and the last -o option specified
           was -o--, and was preceded by either a -o-- or a -i--, the
           tab specification format line will be incorrect.
















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