PR(1P) POSIX Programmer's Manual PR(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
pr -- print files
SYNOPSIS
pr [+page] [-column] [-adFmrt] [-e[char][gap]] [-h header] [-i[char][gap]]
[-l lines] [-n[char][width]] [-o offset] [-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, diagnostic messages
shall be deferred until the pr utility has completed processing.
When options specifying multi-column output are specified, output text
columns shall be of equal width; input lines that do not fit into a
text column shall be truncated. By default, text columns shall be sepa-
rated with at least one <blank>.
OPTIONS
The pr utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of
POSIX.1-2008, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines, except that: the
page option has a '+' delimiter; page and column can be multi-digit
numbers; some of the option-arguments are optional; and some of the
option-arguments cannot be specified as separate arguments from the
preceding option letter. In particular, the -s option does not allow
the option letter to be separated from its argument, and the options
-e, -i, and -n require that both arguments, if present, not be sepa-
rated from the option letter.
The following options shall be supported. In the following option
descriptions, column, lines, offset, page, and width are positive deci-
mal 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 col-
umns (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 ver-
tical 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 exam-
ple, 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 <new-
line> following every <newline> found in the input.
-e[char][gap]
Expand each input <tab> to the next greater column 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> characters in the input shall be expanded into the
appropriate number of <space> characters. If any non-digit
character, char, is specified, it shall be used as the input
<tab>. If the first character of the -e option-argument is a
digit, the entire option-argument shall be assumed to be gap.
-f Use a <form-feed> for new pages, instead of the default
behavior that uses a sequence of <newline> characters. Pause
before beginning the first page if the standard output is
associated with a terminal.
-F Use a <form-feed> for new pages, instead of the default
behavior that uses a sequence of <newline> characters.
-h header Use the string header to replace the contents of the file op-
erand in the page header.
-i[char][gap]
In output, replace <space> characters with <tab> characters
wherever one or more adjacent <space> characters reach column
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 col-
umn position shall be assumed. If any non-digit character,
char, is specified, it shall be used as the output <tab>. If
the first character of the -i option-argument is a digit, the
entire option-argument shall be assumed to be gap.
-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. Implemen-
tations shall support merging of at least nine file operands.
-n[char][width]
Provide width-digit line numbering (default for width shall
be 5). The number shall occupy the first width column posi-
tions 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> char-
acters. 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 <carriage-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> characters (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 positions for mul-
tiple text-column output only. If the -w option is not speci-
fied 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 truncated.
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 operands are speci-
fied, 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 internationalization vari-
ables that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions vol-
ume of POSIX.1-2008, Section 8.2, Internationalization Vari-
ables 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) and which characters are defined as printable (charac-
ter 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 messages 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> characters or a sequence of <newline> characters, 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, representing 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 output of the following command as it would appear if executed at
the given time:
date "+%b %e %H:%M %Y"
without the trailing <newline>, if the page being written is from stan-
dard 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 alert-
ing 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
A conforming application must protect its first operand, if it starts
with a <plus-sign>, by preceding it with the "--" argument that denotes
the end of the options. For example, pr+x could be interpreted as an
invalid page number or a file operand.
EXAMPLES
1. Print a numbered list of all files in the current directory:
ls -a | pr -n -h "Files in $(pwd)."
2. Print file1 and file2 as a double-spaced, three-column listing
headed by ``file list'':
pr -3d -h "file list" file1 file2
3. 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 origins. 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 POSIX.1-2008. Because of its
widespread use by historical applications, the standard developers
decided to exempt this version of pr from many of the guidelines.
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 Guide-
lines. The -n and -s options, however, are specified as in historical
practice because they are frequently specified without their optional
arguments. If a <blank> were allowed before the option-argument in
these cases, a file operand could mistakenly be interpreted as an
option-argument in historical applications.
The text about the minimum number of lines in multi-column 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 use-
less when used with -t.
Historical implementations of the pr utility have differed 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> characters 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
POSIX.1-2008, 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
The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1-2008, Chapter 8, Environment
Variables, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines
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 PR(1P)
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