fmt(1)

fmt -- simple text formatters

Synopsis

fmt [-cs] [-w width] [file . . . ]

Description

fmt is a simple text formatter that fills and joins lines to produce output lines of (up to) the number of characters specified in the -w width option. The default width is 72. fmt concatenates the inputfiles listed as arguments. If none are given, fmt formats text from the standard input.

Blank lines are preserved in the output, as is the spacing between words. fmt does not fill lines beginning with a . (dot), for compatibility with nroff. Nor does it fill lines starting with ``From:''.

Indentation is preserved in the output, and input lines with differing indentation are not joined (unless -c is used).

fmt can also be used as an in-line text filter for vi(1); the vi command:

!}fmt

reformats the text between the cursor location and the end of the paragraph.

Options

-c: Crown margin mode. Preserve the indentation of the first two lines within a paragraph, and align the left margin of each subsequent line with that of the second line. This is useful for tagged paragraphs.
-s: Split lines only. Do not join short lines to form longer ones. This prevents sample lines of code, and other such \(lqformatted\(rq text, from being unduly combined.
-w width: Fill output lines to up to width columns.

References

nroff(1bsd), vi(1)

Notices

The -w width option is acceptable for BSD compatibility, but it may go away in future releases.