tabs - Sets tab stops on terminals
tabs [-n] [-T terminal] [+m [margin]]
tabs [predefined_tab_flag] [-T terminal] [+m [margin]]
tabs [-T terminal] [+m [margin]] number [,number]...
tabs [--tab_format_file]
The tabs command clears up to 20 previous tabs and sets up
to 40 tabs on the terminal according to the supplied tab
specifications.
Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to
industry standards as follows:
tabs: XCU5.0
Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information
about industry standards and associated tags.
Specifies repetitive tab stops separated by a uniform number
of column positions, n, where n is a single-digit number.
The default usage of tabs with no arguments is equivalent
to tabs -8. If you use -0, the tab stops are cleared
and no new ones are set. Identifies the terminal so that
tabs can set tabs and margins correctly. The terminal
argument is one of the conventional terminal names supported
by your system.
[Tru64 UNIX] If the terminal you specify is not
known to the system, tabs tries a general value
that works for most terminals.
If you do not provide a -T option, tabs uses the
TERM shell variable. Moves all tabs to the right
number columns, and makes column number+1 the left
margin.
If m is given without a value, 10 is assumed. The
leftmost margin on most terminals is defined by m0.
Specifies that tabs should be set to a structured
language format that is known to the system. See
the section Predefined Tab Flags for a description
of these flags. [Tru64 UNIX] Causes tabs to read
a file named tab_format_file for format information.
The first line of the file must be in the
format shown in the section Format Specifications
to use this method. The file may contain other
lines which are ignored by tabs.
Note
[Tru64 UNIX] The double dash (--) format is mandatory
with this option.
Sets tabs at the named column numbers (a list in ascending
order, separated by commas). You can specify up to 40
numbers. If any number except the first has a plus sign
prefix, the prefixed number is added to the previous number
for the next setting. Thus, the tab lists 1,10,20,30
and 1,10,+10,+10 provide the same tab settings.
If you use the tabs command with no options or operands,
the terminal tabs are reset to the system defaults for
your terminal type. If only the -T option is used, tabs
are reset to the defaults for that terminal type.
[Tru64 UNIX] When you use the tabs command, always consider
the leftmost column number to be 1, even if your
terminal refers to it as 0 (zero). Tab-stop position n
means that tabbing to position n causes the next character
output to be in the n+1th column position on that line.
Predefined Tab Flags [Toc] [Back]
[Tru64 UNIX] The flags described in the following list
provide formats required by most structured programming
languages. Some of these flags require that a particular
format line be present in the file being manipulated.
This is indicated in the list. Sets the tabs to 1, 10,
16, 36, and 72. Sets the tabs to 1, 10, 16, 40, and 72.
Sets the tabs to 1, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 55 (COBOL normal
format) Sets the tabs to 1, 6, 10, 14, and 49 (COBOL compact
format, columns 1 to 6 omitted). With this code, the
first column position corresponds to card column 7. One
space gets you to column 8, and a tab reaches column 12.
Files using this code must include the following format
specification:
<:t-c2 m6 s66 d:>
[Tru64 UNIX] See Format Specifications later in
this reference page. Sets the tabs to 1, 6, 10,
14, 18, 22, 26, 30, 34, 38, 42, 46, 50, 54, 58, 62,
and 67 (COBOL compact format with more tabs than
-c2). This is the recommended format for COBOL.
Files using this code must include the following
format specification:
<:t-c3 m6 s66 d:> Sets the tabs to 1, 7, 11, 15,
19, and 23 (FORTRAN). Sets the tabs to 1, 5, 9,
13, 17, 21, 25, 29, 33, 37, 41, 45, 49, 53, 57, and
61 (PL/I). Sets the tabs to 1, 10, and 55
(SNOBOL). Sets the tabs to 1, 12, 20, and 44.
Format Specifications [Toc] [Back]
[Tru64 UNIX] A format specification consists of a
sequence of arguments separated by blanks and enclosed in
brackets and colons: <: :>. Each argument consists of a
keyletter and an optional value which immediately follows
it. The following arguments can be used: [Tru64
UNIX] Specifies tab settings. The value for tabs can be:
[Tru64 UNIX] A list of column numbers separated by commas,
indicating tab stops at the specified columns.
[Tru64 UNIX] A - (dash) followed by a number n, specifying
tabs stops every n columns. [Tru64 UNIX] A preset
tab specification, for example -a2. [Tru64 UNIX] Specifies
a maximum line size, or length. The size specification
must be an integer. (The value of size is checked
after tabs have been expanded but before the margin is
prepended.) [Tru64 UNIX] Specifies a number of spaces to
be inserted at the beginning of each line. The margin
specification must be an integer. [Tru64 UNIX] Indicates
that the line containing the format specification is to be
deleted from the converted file.
[Tru64 UNIX] If a format specification can be disguised
as a comment, for example
* <:t5,10,15 s75 m5:> *, you do not need to include
the d keyletter. [Tru64 UNIX] Indicates that the
current format should prevail only until another
format specification is encountered in the file.
[Tru64 UNIX] Default values of t-8 and m0 are assumed if
t and m arguments are not included in the specification;
if s is not included, line size is not checked. If the
first line of a file does not contain a format specification,
these defaults are assumed for the entire file.
The tabs command assumes that standard output is the terminal.
If standard output is redirected, the results are
unpredicable. Full operation of all capabilities may be
restricted by the hardware.
The following exit values are returned: Successful completion.
An error occurred.
To set tabs every four spaces, enter: tabs -4 To clear all
tabs, enter: tabs
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES [Toc] [Back] The following environment variables affect the execution
of tabs: Provides a default value for the internationalization
variables that are unset or null. If LANG is unset
or null, the corresponding value from the default locale
is used. If any of the internationalization variables
contain an invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none
of the variables had been defined. If set to a non-empty
string value, overrides the values of all the other internationalization
variables. Determines 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). Determines the locale for the
format and contents of diagnostic messages written to
standard error. Determines the location of message catalogues
for the processing of LC_MESSAGES. Determines the
terminal type if the -T option is not used.
Commands: expand(1), nroff(1), stty(1), tset(1)
Standards: standards(5)
tabs(1)
[ Back ] |
