SYNOPSIS

       fmt [-c] [-s] [-w width | -width] [file ...]

DESCRIPTION

       Fmt  is  a simple text formatter which reads the concatenation of input
       files (or standard input if none are given) and  produces  on  standard
       output a version of its input with lines as close to 72 characters long
       as possible.  The spacing at the beginning of the input lines  is  pre-
       served in the output, as are blank lines and interword spacing.

       Fmt  is meant to format mail messages prior to sending, but may also be
       useful for other simple tasks.  For instance, within visual mode of the
       ex editor (e.g.  vi) the command

               !}fmt

       will reformat a paragraph, evening the lines.

       The following options can be used to alter the behavior of fmt:

       -c     Select  crown  margin  mode (for tagged paragraphs).  Paragraphs
              are separated by empty lines.  The indenting of  the  first  and
              second  line of each paragraph is preserved, and following lines
              are indented like the second line.

       -s     Split lines, but do not join lines (i.e.  preserve  any  newline
              character found in the input file).

       -w width
              Set the length of generated output lines to width characters.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       LANG, LC_ALL
              See locale(7).

       LC_CTYPE
              Determines  the  mapping  of  bytes  to characters, the width of
              characters, and the set of word-separating characters.

SEE ALSO

       nroff(1), mailx(1), vi(1)

NOTES

       The program was designed to be simple and fast - for more complex oper-
       ations, the standard text processors are likely to be more appropriate.

       The original version of this program was written by Kurt Shoens.



Heirloom Toolchest                  5/6/03                              FMT(1)