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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  print-
                 ing  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 if no file operands are specified, and
       shall  be  used  if a file operand is '-' and the implementation treats
       the '-' as meaning standard input.  Otherwise, the standard input shall
       not be used.  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 vari-
                 ables that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions  vol-
                 ume  of POSIX.1-2008, 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
       The Base Definitions volume of  POSIX.1-2008,  Chapter  8,  Environment
       Variables
COPYRIGHT
       Portions  of  this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
       from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
       --  Portable  Operating  System  Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
       Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the Institute of Electri-
       cal  and  Electronics  Engineers,  Inc  and  The  Open Group.  (This is
       POSIX.1-2008 with the 2013 Technical Corrigendum  1  applied.)  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.unix.org/online.html .
       Any typographical or formatting errors that appear  in  this  page  are
       most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source
       files to man page format. To report such errors,  see  https://www.ker-
       nel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .
IEEE/The Open Group                  2013                              ASA(1P)