Manual page for FSPEC(5)
fspec - format specification in text files
DESCRIPTION
It is sometimes convenient to
maintain text files on the
operating system with non-standard tab stop settings, (that is,
tab stops that are not set at every eighth column).
Such files must generally be converted
to a standard format,
frequently by replacing all
TAB
characters with the appropriate number of
SPACE
characters, before they can be processed by
operating system commands.
A format specification
occurring in the first line of a text file
specifies how
TAB
characters are to be expanded in the remainder of the file.
A format specification consists of a sequence of parameters
separated by blanks and surrounded by the brackets
<:
and
:>.
Each parameter consists of a keyletter,
possibly followed immediately by a value.
The following parameters are recognized:
- ttabs
-
The
t
parameter specifies
the tab stop settings for the file.
The value of
tabs
must be one of the following:
-
- A list of column numbers separated by commas,
indicating tab stops set at the specified columns;
- A
`-'
followed immediately by an integer
n,
indicating tab stops set at intervals of
n
columns, that is, at
1+n,
1+2*n,
and so on;
- A
`-'
followed by the name of a ``canned'' tab stop specification.
Up to 40 numbers are allowed in a comma-separated list of tab stop settings.
If any number (except the first one) is preceded by a plus sign, it is taken
as an increment to be added to the previous value.
Thus, the formats
t1, 10, 20, 30
and
t1, 10, +10, +10
are considered identical.
Standard tab stops are specified by
t-8,
or equivalently,
t1, 9, 17, 25, etc.
This is the tab stop setting that most operating system utilities assume, and
is the most likely setting to be found at a terminal.
The specification
t-0
specifies no tab stops at all.
The ``canned'' tab stops specifications that are recognized are as follows:
-
- a
-
1, 10, 16, 36, 72
Assembler,
IBM
S/370, first format
- a2
-
1, 10, 16, 40, 72
Assembler,
IBM
S/370, second format
- c
-
1, 8, 12, 16, 20, 55
COBOL,
normal format
- c2
-
1, 6, 10, 14, 49
COBOL
compact format (columns 1-6 omitted).
Using this code, the first typed
character corresponds to card column 7,
one space gets you to column 8, and a
TAB
reaches column 12. Files using this tab stop
setup should include a format specification
as follows:
-
-
<:t-c2 m6 s66 d:>
- c3
-
1, 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, 26, 30, 34, 38, 42, 46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 67
COBOL
compact format (columns 1-6 omitted), with more tab stops than
c2.
This is the recommended format for
COBOL.
The appropriate format specification is:
-
-
<:t-c3 m6 s66 d:>
- f
-
1, 7, 11, 15, 19, 23
FORTRAN
- p
-
1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29, 33, 37, 41, 45, 49, 53, 57, 61
PL/I
- s
-
1, 10, 55
SNOBOL
- u
-
1, 12, 20, 44
UNIVAC
1100
Assembler
- ssize
-
The
s
parameter specifies a maximum line size.
The value of
size
must be an integer.
Size checking is performed after
TAB
characters have been expanded,
but before the margin is prepended.
- mmargin
-
The
m
parameter specifies a number of
SPACE
characters to be prepended to each line.
The value of
margin
must be an integer.
- d
-
The
d
parameter takes no value.
Its presence indicates that the line containing the format specification
is to be deleted from the converted file.
- e
-
The
e
parameter takes no value.
Its presence indicates that the current format is to prevail
only until another format specification
is encountered in the file.
Default values, which are assumed for parameters not supplied,
are
t-8
and
m0.
If the
s
parameter is not specified, no size checking is performed.
If the first line of a file does not contain a format specification,
the above defaults are assumed for the entire file.
The following is an example of a line containing a format specification:
-
* <:t5,10,15 s72:> *
If a format specification can be disguised as a comment,
it is not necessary to code the
d
parameter.
SEE ALSO
ed.1
tabs.1v
Created by unroff & hp-tools.
© somebody (See intro for details). All Rights Reserved.
Last modified 11/5/97