NAME

pr - convert text files for printing

SYNOPSIS

pr [-columns] [+page} [-adFfrts] [-n[char][count]] [-schar] [-ei] [-w width] [-o count] [-l length] [-h text] files

pr -m [+page} [-adFfrts] [-n[char][count]] [-schar] [-ei] [-w width] [-o count] [-l length] [-h text] files

DESCRIPTION

pr formats text into fixed-length pages with headers, multiple columns and other options suitable for hardcopy output.

OPTIONS

pr accepts the following option:

-columns

Causes pr to print text in columns down the page. Note that pr does not attempt to fold lines which are too long to fit in their column and long lines and control characters will affect output. Column width decreases as the number of columns goes up. -w should be used to make the page wider.

+page

Begin numbering pages at page number page.

-a

Multiple columns are filled from left-to-right down the page.

-m

Each input file is given a column in the output, and printing continues until all input files are exhausted.

-d

Output is double-spaced

-f

Formfeed characters are used instead of trailing blank lines to control page length. -F is a synonym for -f.

-r

Do not print a message if files cannot be opened

-t

Suppress the 5-line header and 5-line trailer on each page

-schar

The single character char will be used to separate multi-column output. Note that the columns are no-longer fixed-width with this option.

-n[char[count]]

Precede each column with a line number. count is the desired width of the line numbering (numbers too large are truncated). char can be used to separate numbers from the output line, tab is used if char is not specified.

-e

Not implemented in this version, accepted for comptability.

-i

Not implemented in this version, accepted for comptability.

-w width

Width of the page, in characters. Note that excessively long lines are not folded or truncated--they simply keep printing. This may foul column alignment. Defaults to 72.

-l length

Length of the page, in lines. Defaults to 66.

-o count

Offset each line with a left margin count characters wide. This is in addition to the width specified with the -w option.

-h text

Use text in the header for each file, instead of the file name

BUGS

The -e and -i switches are not implemented in this version.

Input which contains carriage returns, or other ASCII control characters will affect the alignment of columns, and may affect page-length counts. This includes overprinting and backspaces.

Excessively long lines will cause pr to mis-align columns in multi-column output.

AUTHOR

The Perl implementation of pr was written by Clinton Pierce, clintp@geeksalad.org.

COPYRIGHT and LICENSE

This program is Copyright 1999, by Clinton Pierce.

Freely redistributable under the Perl Artistic License.