newform(1)

change the format of a text file

From the original Amiga UNIX 2.1 manual. Some things it mentions may not be in this release.

NAME

newform - change the format of a text file

SYNOPSIS

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.

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

-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 specifi-
          cation  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.

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

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

-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.

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

-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).

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.

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).

0 - normal execution
1 - for any error

NOTES

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--).