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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
separated 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 separated from the option letter.
The following options shall be supported. In the following option descriptions, column, lines, offset,
page, and width are positive decimal 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 columns (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 vertical 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 example, 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 <newline> 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 operand 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 column 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. Implementations 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 positions 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> characters. 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 multiple text-column output only. If
the −w option is not specified 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 specified, 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 variables that are unset or null. (See the
Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2008, Section 8.2, Internationalization Variables 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 (character 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 standard 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 alerting 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 Guidelines. 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 useless 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 Electrical 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.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .