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PROLOG | NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | OPERANDS | STDIN | INPUT FILES | ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES | ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS | STDOUT | STDERR | OUTPUT FILES | EXTENDED DESCRIPTION | EXIT STATUS | CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS | APPLICATION USAGE | EXAMPLES | RATIONALE | FUTURE DIRECTIONS | SEE ALSO | COPYRIGHT |
PR(1P) POSIX Programmer's Manual PR(1P)
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux
implementation of this interface may differ (consult the
corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or
the interface may not be implemented on Linux.
pr — print files
pr [+page] [−column] [−adFmrt] [−e[char][gap]] [−h header] [−i[char][gap]]
[−l lines] [−n[char][width]] [−o offset] [−s[char]] [−w width] [−fp]
[file...]
The pr utility is a printing and pagination filter. If multiple input
files are specified, each shall be read, formatted, and written to
standard output. By default, the input shall be separated into
66-line pages, each with:
* A 5-line header that includes 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
shall be deferred until the pr utility has completed processing.
When options specifying multi-column output are specified, output
text columns shall be of equal width; input lines that do not fit
into a text column shall be truncated. By default, text columns shall
be separated with at least one <blank>.
The pr utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of
POSIX.1‐2008, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines, except that:
the page option has a '+' delimiter; page and column can be multi-
digit numbers; some of the option-arguments are optional; and some of
the option-arguments cannot be specified as separate arguments from
the preceding option letter. In particular, 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.
The following options shall be supported. In the following option
descriptions, column, lines, offset, page, and width are positive
decimal integers; gap is a non-negative decimal integer.
+page Begin output at page number page of the formatted input.
−column Produce multi-column output that is arranged in column
columns (the default shall be 1) and is written down each
column in the order in which the text is received from the
input file. This option should not be used with −m. The
options −e and −i shall be assumed for multiple text-column
output. Whether or not text columns are produced with
identical vertical lengths is unspecified, but a text
column shall never exceed the length of the page (see the
−l option). When used with −t, use the minimum number of
lines to write the output.
−a Modify the effect of the −column option so that the columns
are filled across the page in a round-robin order (for
example, 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, and so on).
−d Produce output that is double-spaced; append an extra
<newline> 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, it shall default to 8. All
<tab> characters in the input shall be expanded into the
appropriate number of <space> characters. If any non-digit
character, char, is specified, it shall be used as the
input <tab>. If the first character of the −e option-
argument is a digit, the entire option-argument shall be
assumed to be gap.
−f Use a <form-feed> for new pages, instead of the default
behavior that uses a sequence of <newline> characters.
Pause before beginning the first page if the standard
output is associated with a terminal.
−F Use a <form-feed> for new pages, instead of the default
behavior that uses a sequence of <newline> characters.
−h header Use the string header to replace the contents of the file
operand in the page header.
−i[char][gap]
In output, replace <space> characters with <tab> characters
wherever one or more adjacent <space> characters reach
column positions gap+1, 2* gap+1, 3* gap+1, and so on. If
gap is zero or is omitted, default tab settings at every
eighth column position shall be assumed. If any non-digit
character, char, is specified, it shall be used as the
output <tab>. If the first character of the −i option-
argument is a digit, the entire option-argument shall be
assumed to be 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 shall
suppress both the header and trailer, as if the −t option
were in effect.
−m Merge files. Standard output shall be formatted so the pr
utility writes one line from each file specified by a file
operand, side by side into text columns of equal fixed
widths, in terms of the number of column positions.
Implementations shall support merging of at least nine file
operands.
−n[char][width]
Provide width-digit line numbering (default for width shall
be 5). The number shall occupy the first width column
positions of each text column of default output or each
line of −m output. If char (any non-digit character) is
given, it shall be appended to the line number to separate
it from whatever follows (default for char is a <tab>).
−o offset Each line of output shall be preceded by offset <space>
characters. If the −o option is not specified, the default
offset shall be zero. The space taken is in addition to the
output line width (see the −w option below).
−p Pause before beginning each page if the standard output is
directed to a terminal (pr shall 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 files.
−s[char] Separate text columns by the single character char instead
of by the appropriate number of <space> characters (default
for char shall be <tab>).
−t Write neither the five-line identifying header nor the
five-line trailer usually supplied for each page. Quit
writing 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 shall be 72. If the −w option is not specified and
the −s option is specified, the default width shall be 512.
For single column output, input lines shall not be
truncated.
The following operand shall be supported:
file A pathname of a file to be written. If no file operands are
specified, or if a file operand is '−', the standard input
shall be used.
The standard input shall be used only if no file operands are
specified, or if a file operand is '−'. See the INPUT FILES section.
The input files shall be text files.
The file /dev/tty shall be used to read responses required by the −p
option.
The following environment variables shall affect the execution of pr:
LANG Provide a default value for the internationalization
variables that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions
volume of POSIX.1‐2008, Section 8.2, Internationalization
Variables the precedence of internationalization variables
used to determine the values of locale categories.)
LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of
all the other internationalization variables.
LC_CTYPE Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of
bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte
as opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments and input
files) and which characters are defined as printable
(character class print). Non-printable characters are
still written to standard output, but are not counted for
the purpose for column-width and line-length calculations.
LC_MESSAGES
Determine the locale that should be used to affect the
format and contents of diagnostic messages written to
standard error.
LC_TIME Determine the format of the date and time for use in
writing header lines.
NLSPATH Determine the location of message catalogs for the
processing of LC_MESSAGES.
TZ Determine the timezone used to calculate date and time
strings written in header lines. If TZ is unset or null, an
unspecified default timezone shall be used.
If pr receives an interrupt while writing to a terminal, it shall
flush all accumulated error messages to the screen before
terminating.
The pr utility output shall be a paginated version of the original
file (or files). This pagination shall be accomplished using either
<form-feed> characters or a sequence of <newline> characters, as
controlled by the −F or −f option. Page headers shall be generated
unless the −t option is specified. The page headers shall be of the
form:
"\n\n%s %s Page %d\n\n\n", <output of date>, <file>, <page number>
In the POSIX locale, the <output of date> field, representing the
date and time of last modification of the input file (or the current
date and time if the input file is standard input), shall be
equivalent to the output of the following command as it would appear
if executed at the given time:
date "+%b %e %H:%M %Y"
without the trailing <newline>, if the page being written is from
standard input. If the page being written is not from standard input,
in the POSIX locale, the same format shall be used, but the time used
shall be the modification time of the file corresponding to file
instead of the current time. When the LC_TIME locale category is not
set to the POSIX locale, a different format and order of presentation
of this field may be used.
If the standard input is used instead of a file operand, the <file>
field shall be replaced by a null string.
If the −h option is specified, the <file> field shall be replaced by
the header argument.
The standard error shall be used for diagnostic messages and for
alerting the terminal when −p is specified.
None.
None.
The following exit values shall be returned:
0 Successful completion.
>0 An error occurred.
Default.
The following sections are informative.
A conforming application must protect its first operand, if it starts
with a <plus-sign>, by preceding it with the "−−" argument that
denotes the end of the options. For example, pr+x could be
interpreted as an invalid page number or a file operand.
1. Print a numbered list of all files in the current directory:
ls −a | pr −n −h "Files in $(pwd)."
2. Print file1 and file2 as a double-spaced, three-column listing
headed by ``file list'':
pr −3d −h "file list" file1 file2
3. Write file1 on file2, expanding tabs to columns 10, 19, 28, ...:
pr −e9 −t <file1 >file2
This utility is one of those that does not follow the Utility Syntax
Guidelines because of its historical origins. The standard developers
could have added new options that obeyed the guidelines (and marked
the old options obsolescent) or devised an entirely new utility;
there are examples of both actions in this volume of POSIX.1‐2008.
Because of its widespread use by historical applications, the
standard developers decided to exempt this version of pr from many of
the guidelines.
Implementations are required to accept option-arguments to the −h,
−l, −o, and −w options whether presented as part of the same argument
or as a separate argument to pr, as suggested by the Utility Syntax
Guidelines. The −n and −s options, however, are specified as in
historical practice because they are frequently specified without
their optional arguments. If a <blank> were allowed before the
option-argument in these cases, a file operand could mistakenly be
interpreted as an option-argument in historical applications.
The text about the minimum number of lines in multi-column output was
included to ensure that a best effort is made in balancing the length
of the columns. There are known historical implementations in which,
for example, 60-line files are listed by pr −2 as one column of 56
lines and a second of 4. Although this is not a problem when a full
page with headers and trailers is produced, it would be relatively
useless when used with −t.
Historical implementations of the pr utility have differed in the
action taken for the −f option. BSD uses it as described here for the
−F option; System V uses it to change trailing <newline> characters
on each page to a <form-feed> and, if standard output is a TTY
device, sends an <alert> to standard error and reads a line from
/dev/tty before the first page. There were strong arguments from both
sides of this issue concerning historical practice and as a result
the −F option was added. XSI-conformant systems support the System V
historical actions for the −f option.
The <output of date> field in the −l format is specified only for the
POSIX locale. As noted, the format can be different in other locales.
No mechanism for defining this is present in this volume of
POSIX.1‐2008, as the appropriate vehicle is a message catalog; that
is, the format should be specified as a ``message''.
None.
expand(1p), lp(1p)
The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2008, Chapter 8, Environment
Variables, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition, Standard for Information
Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open
Group Base Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open
Group. (This is POSIX.1-2008 with the 2013 Technical Corrigendum 1
applied.) In the event of any discrepancy between this version and
the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and
The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original
Standard can be obtained online at http://www.unix.org/online.html .
Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are
most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the
source files to man page format. To report such errors, see
https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .
IEEE/The Open Group 2013 PR(1P)
Pages that refer to this page: nl(1p), paste(1p)