src/tools/entab/entab.man

.\" src/tools/entab/entab.man
.TH ENTAB 1 local
.SH NAME
entab - tab processor
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
entab [-cdq] [-s min_spaces] [-t tab_width] [file ... ]
detab [-cq]  [-s min_spaces] [-t tab_width] [file ... ]
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
Entab is a program designed to selectively add or remove tabs
from a file based on user-supplied criteria.
In default mode, entab prints the specified files to standard output
with the optimal mix of tabs and spaces.
Tabs default to every 8 characters, and tabs are used only when they
can replace more than one space, unlike 'col' which uses tabs wherever
possible.
.LP
The options are:
.in +0.5i
.nf
-c 	Clip trailing tabs and spaces from each line.
-d	Delete all tabs from output
-q	Protect single and double-quoted strings from tab replacement.
	(This option is useful when operating on source code.
	 Line continuation with back-slashes is also understood.)
-s 	Minimum spaces needed to replace with a tab (default = 2).
-t	Number of spaces in a tab stop (default = 8).
.fi
.in -0.5i
Detab is equivalent to entab -d.
.SH NOTES
Entab has improved tab handling for certain situations.
It only replaces tabs if there is a user-defined number of spaces
to be saved.
Other tab replacement programs put tabs wherever
possible, so if two words are separated by one space, and that
space is on a tab stop, a tab is inserted.
Then, when words are added to the left, the words are shifted over,
leaving a large gap.
The quote-protection option allows tab replacement without
quoted strings being changed.
Useful when strings in source code will not have the same tab stops
when executed in the program.
.LP
To change a text file created on a system with one size of tab
stop to display properly on a device with different tab setting,
use detab (or entab -d) to remove tabs from the file with the
tab size set to the original tab size, then use entab to re-tab
the file with the new tab size.
.SH AUTHOR
Bruce Momjian, root@candle.pha.pa.us