expand — convert tabs to spaces
Examples (TL;DR)
-
Convert tabs in each file to spaces, writing to standard output:
expand file -
Convert tabs to spaces, reading from standard input:
expand -
Do not convert tabs after non blanks:
expand -i file -
Have tabs a certain number of characters apart, not 8:
expand -t=number file -
Use a comma separated list of explicit tab positions:
expand -t=1,4,6
Synopsis
expand [OPTION]... [FILE]...
Description
Convert tabs in each FILE to spaces, 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.
- -i, --initial
do not convert tabs after non blanks
- -t, --tabs=N
have tabs N characters apart, not 8
- -t, --tabs=LIST
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
- --help
display this help and exit
- --version
output version information and exit
Reporting Bugs
GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 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.
See Also
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/expand>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) expand invocation'
Referenced By
col(1), colrm(1), perlmodlib(1), unexpand(1).