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ASA(1P)                    POSIX Programmer's Manual                   ASA(1P)

PROLOG
       This  manual  page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux
       implementation of this interface may differ (consult the  corresponding
       Linux  manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may
       not be implemented on Linux.
NAME
       asa - interpret carriage-control characters
SYNOPSIS
       asa [ file ... ]
DESCRIPTION
       The asa utility shall write its input files to standard output, mapping
       carriage-control characters from the text files to line-printer control
       sequences in an implementation-defined manner.
       The first character of every line shall be removed from the input,  and
       the following actions are performed.
       If the character removed is:
       <space>
              The rest of the line is output without change.
       0      A <newline> is output, then the rest of the input line.
       1      One  or  more  implementation-defined  characters that causes an
              advance to the next page shall be output, followed by  the  rest
              of the input line.
       +      The <newline> of the previous line shall be replaced with one or
              more implementation-defined characters that causes  printing  to
              return  to  column position 1, followed by the rest of the input
              line. If the '+' is the first character in the input,  it  shall
              be equivalent to <space>.

       The  action  of  the  asa  utility is unspecified upon encountering any
       character other than those listed above as the  first  character  in  a
       line.
OPTIONS
       None.
OPERANDS
       file   A  pathname  of  a text file used for input. If no file operands
              are specified, the standard input shall be used.

STDIN
       The standard input shall be used only if no file  operands  are  speci-
       fied; see the INPUT FILES section.
INPUT FILES
       The input files shall be text files.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       The following environment variables shall affect the execution of asa:
       LANG   Provide  a  default value for the internationalization variables
              that are unset or null. (See  the  Base  Definitions  volume  of
              IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,  Section  8.2,  Internationalization Vari-
              ables for the precedence of internationalization variables  used
              to determine the values of locale categories.)
       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).
       LC_MESSAGES
              Determine the locale that should be used to  affect  the  format
              and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.
       NLSPATH
              Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of
              LC_MESSAGES .

ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
       Default.
STDOUT
       The standard output shall be the text from the input file  modified  as
       described in the DESCRIPTION section.
STDERR
       None.
OUTPUT FILES
       None.
EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
       None.
EXIT STATUS
       The following exit values shall be returned:
        0     All input files were output successfully.
       >0     An error occurred.

CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
       Default.
       The following sections are informative.
APPLICATION USAGE
       None.
EXAMPLES
        1. The following command:

           asa file
       permits  the  viewing of file (created by a program using FORTRAN-style
       carriage-control characters) on a terminal.
        2. The following command:

           a.out | asa | lp
       formats the FORTRAN output of a.out and directs it to the printer.
RATIONALE
       The asa utility is needed to map "standard" FORTRAN 77  output  into  a
       form  acceptable to contemporary printers. Usually, asa is used to pipe
       data to the lp utility; see lp.
       This utility is generally used only by FORTRAN programs.  The  standard
       developers decided to retain asa to avoid breaking the historical large
       base of FORTRAN applications that put  carriage-control  characters  in
       their  output  files. There is no requirement that a system have a FOR-
       TRAN compiler in order to run applications that need asa.
       Historical implementations have used an ASCII <form-feed>  in  response
       to a 1 and an ASCII <carriage-return> in response to a '+' . It is sug-
       gested that implementations treat characters other than 0, 1,  and  '+'
       as  <space>  in  the  absence of any compelling reason to do otherwise.
       However, the action is listed  here  as  "unspecified",  permitting  an
       implementation to provide extensions to access fast multiple-line slew-
       ing and channel seeking in a non-portable manner.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
       None.
SEE ALSO
       fort77, 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 Operating System Interface (POSIX),  The  Open  Group  Base
       Specifications  Issue  6,  Copyright  (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute 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.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

IEEE/The Open Group                  2003                              ASA(1P)