NAME

nl − number lines

SYNOPSIS

/usr/5bin/nl [ −htype ] [ −btype ] [ −ftype ] [ −vstart ] [ −iincr ] [ −p ] [ −lnum ] [ −ssepar ] [ −wwidth ] [ −nfmt ] [ −ddelim ] filename

DESCRIPTION

Nl reads lines from filename (standard input if none named), numbers them according to the options specified, and writes them to standard output. 

It regards the text as a series of logical pages.  Line numbering is usually reset at the top of each page.  A page comprises a header, a body and a footer.  These sections are specified by input lines consisting solely of the appropriate delimiter characters:

\:\:\:start of header

\:\:start of body

\:start of footer

Nl assumes that the text is in a single logical page body unless told otherwise. 

OPTIONS

−btypeSpecifies which body lines are to be numbered.  The recognised types are:

anumber all lines

tnumber just those lines with printable text

pregexpnumber all lines which match the given regular expression

ndo not number any lines

The default type is t. 

−htypeAs for −b but for the header.  The default type is n. 

−ftypeAs for −b but for the footer.  The default type is n. 

−pDo not restart line numbering at logical page breaks. 

−vstartSet the initial page number.  Default value is 1. 

−iincrLine number increment.  Default value is 1. 

−sseparThe character used to separate the line number and the rest of the line.  Default is TAB. 

−wwidth
The width (in characters) of the field to print the line number in.  Default value is 6.

−nfmtThe line numbering format.  Valid formats are:

lnleft justified, leading zeroes supressed

rnright justified, leading zeroes supressed

rzright justified, leading zeroes left in. 

−lnumThe number of adjacent blank lines to consider as one line.  For example, −l4 causes nl to number only every fourth blank line (assuming that the numbering of blank lines has been selected). 

−dstThe delimiter characters to mark the header, body and footer sections are altered from the default ‘\:’ to the characters s and t. If only one character is supplied, then the second will be default to ‘:’.  Be careful to protect the delimiter characters from expansion by the shell.

SEE ALSO

cat(1), pr(1)

4th Berkeley Distribution