expand(1) — bsd

EXPAND(1)                            BSD                             EXPAND(1)



NAME
     expand, unexpand - expand tabs to spaces, and vice versa

SYNOPSIS
     expand [ -tabstop ] [ -tab1,tab2,...,tabn ] [ file ...  ]
     unexpand [ -a ] [ file ...  ]

DESCRIPTION
     The expand command processes the named files or the standard input,
     writing the standard output with tabs changed into blanks.  Backspace
     characters are preserved into the output and decrement the column count
     for tab calculations.  expand is useful for pre-processing character
     files (before sorting, looking at specific columns, etc.) that contain
     tabs.

     If you supply a single tabstop argument, the tabs are set tabstop spaces
     apart instead of the default, eight.  If you specify multiple tabstops,
     the tabs are set at those specific columns.

     unexpand puts tabs back into the data from the standard input or the
     named files, and writes the result on the standard output.  By default,
     only leading blanks and tabs are reconverted to maximal strings of tabs.
     If you specify the -a option, tabs are inserted whenever they would
     compress the resultant file by replacing two or more characters.
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