PR(1)                     BSD General Commands Manual                    PR(1)

NAME
     pr -- print files

SYNOPSIS
     pr [+page] [-column] [-adFfmprt] [[-e] [char] [gap]] [-L locale]
        [-h header] [[-i] [char] [gap]] [-l lines] [-o offset] [[-s] [char]]
        [[-n] [char] [width]] [-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

     o   A 5-line header with the page number, date, time, and the pathname of
         the file.

     o   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.  (To colum-
           nify and reshape text files more generally and without additional
           formatting, see the rs(1) utility.)

     -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 speci-
           fied 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.

     -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 but pause before beginning the first page if standard
           output is 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 spec-
           ified, it is used as the output <tab> character.

     -L locale
           Use locale specified as argument instead of one found in environ-
           ment.  Use "C" to reset locale to default.

     -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 col-
           umns of equal fixed widths, in terms of the number of column posi-
           tions.  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 posi-
           tions 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 <spaces>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 each page if the standard output is a terminal.  pr
           will write an alert character to standard error and wait for a car-
           riage return to be read on the terminal.

     -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    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 speci-
           fied, 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.

EXIT STATUS
     The pr utility exits 0 on success, and 1 if an error occurs.

DIAGNOSTICS
     If pr receives an interrupt while printing to a terminal, it flushes all
     accumulated error messages to the screen before terminating.

     Error messages are written to standard error during the printing process
     (if output is redirected) or after all successful file printing is com-
     plete (when printing to a terminal).

LEGACY DESCRIPTION
     The last space before the tab stop is replaced with a tab character.  In
     legacy mode, it is not.

     For more information about legacy mode, see compat(5).

SEE ALSO
     cat(1), more(1), rs(1), compat(5)

STANDARDS
     The pr utility is IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (``POSIX.1'') compatible.

HISTORY
     A pr command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.

BUGS
     The pr utility does not recognize multibyte characters.

BSD                              July 3, 2004                              BSD