UNEXPAND(1) User Commands UNEXPAND(1)

unexpand - convert spaces to tabs

unexpand [OPTION]... [FILE]...

Convert blanks in each FILE to tabs, writing to standard output.

With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

convert all blanks, instead of just initial blanks
convert only leading sequences of blanks (overrides -a)
have tabs N characters apart instead of 8 (enables -a)
use comma separated list of tab positions. The last specified position can be prefixed with '/' to specify a tab size to use after the last explicitly specified tab stop. Also a prefix of '+' can be used to align remaining tab stops relative to the last specified tab stop instead of the first column
display this help and exit
output version information and exit

Written by David MacKenzie.

GNU coreutils online help: https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/
Report any translation bugs to https://translationproject.org/team/

Copyright © 2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

expand(1)

Full documentation https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/unexpand
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) unexpand invocation'

August 2024 GNU coreutils 9.5