Ubuntu Manpage: boxes - text mode box and comment drawing filter

NAME

       boxes - text mode box and comment drawing filter

SYNOPSIS

       boxes   [-hlmrv]   [-a format]   [-d design]   [-e eol]  [-f file]  [-i indent]  [-k bool]
       [-n encoding] [-p pad] [-q query] [-s size] [-t tabopts] [infile [outfile]]

DESCRIPTION

       Boxes is a text filter which can draw any kind of box around its input  text.  Box  design
       choices  range  from  simple  boxes  to  complex  ASCII art. A box can also be removed and
       repaired, even if it has been badly damaged by editing of the text inside. Since boxes may
       be open on any side, boxes can also be used to create regional comments in any programming
       language.  New box designs can be added and shared by appending to a configuration file.

       boxes is a command line tool, but also integrates  with  any  text  editor  that  supports
       filters. The boxes website has examples on how to configure editor integration for various
       text editors:
       <URL:https://boxes.thomasjensen.com/editors.html>

OPTIONS

Options offered by boxes are the following:

-a string
Alignment/positioning of text inside box. This option takes a format string argument
which is read from left to right. The format string may not contain whitespace and
must consist of one or more of the following components:

hx - horizontal alignment of the input text block inside a potentially larger box.
Possible values for x are l (ell, for left alignment), c (center), or r (right).
This does not affect the justification of text lines within the input text block
(use the j argument instead).
vx - vertical alignment of the input text block inside a potentially larger box.
Possible values for x are t (for top alignment), c (center), or b (bottom).
jx - justification of lines within the input text block. Possible values for x are l
(ell, for left justification), c (center), or r (right). This does not affect the
alignment of the input text block itself within the box. Use the h and v arguments
for input text block positioning.

Short hand notations (can be combined with the above arguments):
l (ell) - short for hlvcjl
c - short for hcvcjc
r - short for hrvcjr

The factory default setting for -a is hlvt.

-c string
Command line design definition for simple cases. The argument of this option is the
definition for the "west" (W) shape. The defined shape must consist of exactly one
line, i.e. no multi-line shapes are allowed. The -c option is intended as a shortcut
for those cases where simple regional comments are to be created, which only need a
certain character or sequence of characters to be placed in front of every line. In
such cases, it is much more convenient to simply specify -c than to do a complete
design definition in one's config file, where the only shape defined is the west
shape.
This option implies a -d and does not access the config file. -c may of course be
used in conjunction with any of the other options. By default, -c is not specified.

-d string
Design selection. The one argument of this option is the name of the design to use,
which may either be a design's primary name or any of its alias names.

-e eol
Override line terminator. eol can be CR, LF, or CRLF. The default is to use the
system-specific line terminator, which means CRLF on Windows, and LF otherwise. This
option should only be used in an emergency, because normally the system-specific
line terminator will be just fine. This option is considered experimental, and may
go away in a future version of boxes. Let us know in <URL:https://github.com/ascii-
boxes/boxes/issues/60> if you think we should keep it.

-f string
Use alternate config file. The one argument of this option is the name of a valid
boxes config file. The argument of -f can also be a directory which contains a
configuration file. More information on this topic below in the CONFIGURATION FILE
section.

--help
-h Print usage information.

-i string
Indentation mode. Possible arguments are text (indent text inside of box), box
(indent box, not text inside of box), or none (throw away indentation). Arguments
may be abbreviated. The default is box.

-k bool
Kill leading/trailing blank lines on removal. The value of bool is either true or
false. This option only takes effect in connection with -r. If set to true,
leading and trailing blank lines will be removed from the output. If set to false,
the entire content of the former box is returned. The default is false, if both the
top and the bottom part of the box are open, as is the case with most regional
comments. If the box's design defines a top part or a bottom part, the default is
true.

-l (ell) List designs. Produces a listing of all available box designs in the config
file, along with a sample box and information about its creator. Also checks the
syntax of the entire config file. If used together with -d, displays detailed
information about the specified design.

-m Mend box. This removes a (potentially broken) box as with -r, and redraws it
afterwards. The mended box is drawn according to the options given. This may be
important to know when it comes to restoring padding, indentation, etc. for the
mended box. Implies -k false.

-n encoding
Character encoding. Overrides the character encoding of the input and output text.
Choose from the list shown by iconv -l. If an invalid character encoding is
specified here, UTF-8 is used as a fallback. The default is to use the system
encoding, which is normally the best course of action. So don't specify this option
unless you have to.

-p string
Padding. Specify padding in spaces around the input text block for all sides of the
box. The argument string may not contain whitespace and must consist of a
combination of the following characters, each followed by a number indicating the
padding in spaces:
a - (all) give padding for all sides at once
h - (horiz) give padding for both horizontal sides
v - (vertical) give padding for both vertical sides
b - (bottom) give padding for bottom (south) side
l - (left) give padding for left (west) side
t - (top) give padding for top (north) side
r - (right) give padding for right (east) side
Example: -p a4t2 would define the padding to be 4 characters on all sides, except
for the top of the box, where the input text block will be only 2 lines away from
the box.
By default, unless specified otherwise in the config file, no padding is used.

-q query
Query designs by tag. In contrast to -l, this will only print the matching design
names. This option is normally used stand-alone; if used in combination with other
options, behavior is undefined. The query argument is a comma-separated list of
tags which can be present on a design in order to match. A tag may optionally be
prefixed with + in order to require that it be present, or with - in order to
exclude designs which have that tag. Each tag can only occur once per query.
This option is intended for use by scripts. Alias names are printed below their
primary design name, and postfixed with (alias).
Example: boxes -q programming,-comment

-r Remove an existing box. Which design to use is detected automatically. In order to
save time or in case the detection does not decide correctly, combine with -d to
specify the design. The default is to draw a new box.

-s widthxheight
Box size. This option specifies the desired box size in units of columns (for width)
and lines (for height). If only a single number is given as argument, this number
specifies the desired box width. A single number prefixed by 'x' specifies only the
box height. The actual resulting box size may vary depending on the individual
shape sizes of the chosen design. Also, other command line options may influence the
box size (such as -p).
By default, the smallest possible box is created around the text.

-t string
Tab handling. This option controls how tab characters in the input text are handled.
The option string must always begin with a uint number indicating the distance
between tab stops. It is important that this value be set correctly, or tabulator
characters will upset your input text. The correct tab distance value depends on
the settings used for the text you are processing. A common value is 8.
Immediately following the tab distance, an optional character can be appended,
telling boxes how to treat the leading tabs. The following options are available:
e - expand tabs into spaces
k - keep tabs as close to what they were as possible
u - unexpand tabs. This makes boxes turn as many spaces as possible into tabs.

In order to maintain backwards compatibility, the -t string can be just a number. In
that case, e is assumed for tab handling, which removes all tabs and replaces them
with spaces. The factory default for the -t option is simply 8, which is just such a
case.
For example, you could specify -t 4u in order to have your leading tabs unexpanded.
In the box content, tabs are always converted into spaces. The tab distance in this
example is 4.

-v Print out current version number.

CONFIGURATION FILE

Boxes will look for the configuration file in several places, some of which are given by
the XDG specification.

1. -f option [file or dir]
When a configuration file is specified on the command line, we will use that. The -f
option can also specify a directory. Any location specified via -f must exist, or
boxes will terminate with an error.

2. BOXES environment variable [file or dir]
If no config file is specified on the command line, boxes will check for the BOXES
environment variable, which may contain a filename or directory to use. Any location
specified via the BOXES environment variable must exist, or boxes will terminate
with an error.

3. $HOME [dir]
4. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/boxes [dir]
5. $HOME/.config/boxes [dir]
6. /etc/boxes/boxes-config [file]
7. /etc/xdg/boxes [dir]
8. /usr/local/share/boxes [dir]
9. /usr/share/boxes [dir]
Either one of these last two directory locations might have the same name as the
global config file from 6. That's fine. It just means that we first look for a file
of that name, and then for a directory containing the file.

The XDG environment variable XDG_CONFIG_DIRS is not supported. However, its default value
is supported via steps 8 and 9 above.

In the above list, whenever a step is designated with [dir], the following file names will
be found, in this order:
1. .boxes
2. box-designs
3. boxes-config
4. boxes

As soon as the first valid file is found, we use that and stop the search.

The recommended location for a user-specific configuration file is $HOME/.boxes or
$HOME/.config/boxes/.boxes. A global configuration file should be located at
/etc/boxes/boxes-config. But all of the other locations are fully supported, too.

The syntax of boxes config files is described on the website at
<URL:https://boxes.thomasjensen.com/config-syntax.html>.

EXAMPLES

       Examples    on    how    to    invoke   boxes   may   be   found   on   the   website   at
       <URL:https://boxes.thomasjensen.com/examples.html>.
       Try

       echo "Good Bye World!" | boxes -d nuke

       Boxes also combines nicely with other tools. Try

       figlet "boxes . . . !" | lolcat -f | boxes -d unicornthink

AVAILABILITY

       The boxes website  is  <URL:https://boxes.thomasjensen.com/>.  It  contains  a  number  of
       examples illustrating this manual page as well as more in-depth documentation.

AUTHOR

       Boxes  was  made  by  Thomas  Jensen  and  the  boxes  contributors.  It has been lovingly
       maintained since 1999.
       For a full list of contributors, see
       <URL:https://boxes.thomasjensen.com/team.html#contributors>
       and <URL:https://github.com/ascii-boxes/boxes/graphs/contributors>.
       Please refer to the boxes website for the maintainer's current email address.

VERSION

       This is boxes version 2.1.1.

LICENSE

       boxes is free software under the terms of the  GNU  General  Public  License,  version  2.
       Details     in    the    LICENSE    file:    <URL:https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ascii-
       boxes/boxes/v2.1.1/LICENSE>

ENVIRONMENT

       Boxes recognizes the following environment variables:

       BOXES
             Absolute path of the boxes configuration file. If this is specified, it  must  refer
             to an existing file or directory.

       HOME
             The user's home directory.

       XDG_CONFIG_HOME
             The root of the configuration file location as per the XDG specification.