pr(P)                                                     pr(P)





NAME
       pr - print files

SYNOPSIS
       pr      [+page][-column][-adFmrt][-e[char][     gap]][-h
       header][-i[char][gap]]

                   [-l     lines][-n[char][width]][-o      off-
       set][-s[char]][-w width][-fp]
               [file...]

DESCRIPTION
       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,  diag-
       nostic  messages  shall be deferred until the pr utility
       has completed processing.

       When options specifying multi-column output  are  speci-
       fied, output text columns shall be of equal width; input
       lines that do not fit into a text column shall be  trun-
       cated.  By default, text columns shall be separated with
       at least one <blank>.

OPTIONS
       The pr utility shall conform  to  the  Base  Definitions
       volume  of  IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,  Section 12.2, Utility
       Syntax Guidelines, except that: the page  option  has  a
       '+'  delimiter;  page and column can be multi-digit num-
       bers; some of the  option-arguments  are  optional;  and
       some of the option-arguments cannot be specified as sep-
       arate arguments from the  preceding  option  letter.  In
       particular, the -s option does not allow the option let-
       ter 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 follow-
       ing  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  col-
              umn  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>s in the
              input shall be expanded into the appropriate num-
              ber  of  <space>s.  If  any  non-digit character,
              char, is specified, it shall be used as the input
              <tab>.

       -f     Use  a  <form-feed> for new pages, instead of the
              default behavior that uses a  sequence  of  <new-
              line>s.  Pause before beginning the first page if
              the standard output is associated with  a  termi-
              nal.

       -F     Use  a  <form-feed> for new pages, instead of the
              default behavior that uses a  sequence  of  <new-
              line>s.

       -h  header
              Use  the string header to replace the contents of
              the file operand in the page header.

       -i[char][gap]
              In output, replace multiple <space>s with  <tab>s
              wherever two or more adjacent <space>s reach col-
              umn 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>.

       -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 oper-
              ands.

       -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>s. 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 <car-
              riage-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>s (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 posi-
              tions 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 trun-
       cated.


OPERANDS
       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.


STDIN
       The standard input shall be used only if no  file  oper-
       ands  are  specified, or if a file operand is '-' .  See
       the INPUT FILES section.

INPUT FILES
       The input files shall be text files.

       The file  /dev/tty  shall  be  used  to  read  responses
       required by the -p option.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       The  following  environment  variables  shall affect the
       execution of pr:

       LANG   Provide a default value for the internationaliza-
              tion  variables  that are unset or null. (See the
              Base Definitions volume of  IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,
              Section  8.2,  Internationalization Variables for
              the precedence of internationalization  variables
              used  to  determine  the  values  of locale cate-
              gories.)

       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  (char-
              acter  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 mes-
              sages 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.


ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
       If pr receives an interrupt while writing to a terminal,
       it shall flush all accumulated  error  messages  to  the
       screen before terminating.

STDOUT
       The  pr  utility  output shall be a paginated version of
       the original file (or files). This pagination  shall  be
       accomplished  using either <form-feed>s or a sequence of
       <newline>s, 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,  repre-
       senting  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 out-
       put of the following command as it would appear if  exe-
       cuted at the given time:


              date "+%b %e %H:%M %Y"

       without  the trailing <newline>, if the page being writ-
       ten 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.

STDERR
       The standard error shall be used for diagnostic messages
       and for alerting the terminal when -p is specified.

OUTPUT FILES
       None.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
       None.

EXIT STATUS
       The following exit values shall be returned:

        0     Successful completion.

       >0     An error occurred.


CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
       Default.

       The following sections are informative.

APPLICATION USAGE
       None.

EXAMPLES
       Print a numbered list of all files in the current direc-
       tory:


              ls -a | pr -n -h "Files in $(pwd)."

       Print  file1  and file2 as a double-spaced, three-column
       listing headed by "file list'':


              pr -3d -h "file list" file1 file2

       Write file1 on file2, expanding tabs to columns 10,  19,
       28, ...:


              pr -e9 -t <file1 >file2

RATIONALE
       This  utility  is  one of those that does not follow the
       Utility Syntax Guidelines because of its historical ori-
       gins.  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
       IEEE Std 1003.1-2001.  Because  of its widespread use by
       historical applications, the standard developers decided
       to  exempt  this  version  of pr from many of the guide-
       lines.

       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 histori-
       cal practice because they are frequently specified with-
       out their optional arguments. If a <blank> were  allowed
       before  the option-argument in these cases, a file oper-
       and could mistakenly be interpreted as  an  option-argu-
       ment in historical applications.

       The text about the minimum number of lines in multi-col-
       umn 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  dif-
       fered 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>s 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 IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,
       as the appropriate vehicle is a  message  catalog;  that
       is, the format should be specified as a "message".

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
       None.

SEE ALSO
       expand , lp

COPYRIGHT
       Portions  of  this  text are reprinted and reproduced in
       electronic form from  IEEE  Std  1003.1,  2003  Edition,
       Standard  for Information Technology -- Portable Operat-
       ing System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Speci-
       fications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Insti-
       tute of Electrical and Electronics  Engineers,  Inc  and
       The  Open Group. 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.open-
       group.org/unix/online.html .



POSIX                         2003                        pr(P)
