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Name

tabs - set tabs on a terminal

Synopsis

tabs [ -n | --file | [ [ -code ] -a | -a2 | -c | -c2 | -c3 | -f | -p | -s | -u ] ] [ +m[n] ] [ -T type ]
tabs [ -T type ] [ +m[n] ] n1[,n2,...]

Availability

SUNWcsu

Description

tabs sets the tab stops on the user’s terminal according to a tab specification, after clearing any previous settings. The user’s terminal must have remotely settable hardware tabs.

Options

The following options are supported. If a given flag occurs more than once, the last value given takes effect:
-T type
tabs needs to know the type of terminal in order to set tabs and margins. type is a name listed in term(5) . If no -T flag is supplied, tabs uses the value of the environment variable TERM . If the value of TERM is NULL or TERM is not defined in the environment (see environ(5) ), tabs uses ansi+tabs as the terminal type to provide a sequence that will work for many terminals.
+m[n]
The margin argument may be used for some terminals. It causes all tabs to be moved over n columns by making column n+1 the left margin. If +m is given without a value of n, the value assumed is 10. For a TermiNet, the first value in the tab list should be 1, or the margin will move even further to the right. The normal (leftmost) margin on most terminals is obtained by +m0. The margin for most terminals is reset only when the +m flag is given explicitly.

Tab Specification

Four types of tab specification are accepted. They are described below: canned, repetitive (-n), arbitrary (n1,n2,...), and file (--file).

If no tab specification is given, the default value is -8, that is, UNIX system ‘‘standard’’ tabs. The lowest column number is 1. Note: For tabs, column 1 always refers to the leftmost column on a terminal, even one whose column markers begin at 0, for example, the DASI 300, DASI 300s, and DASI 450.

Canned -code

Use one of the codes listed below to select a canned set of tabs. If more than one code is specified, the last code option will be used. The legal codes and their meanings are as follows:

-a
1,10,16,36,72
Assembler, IBM S/370, first format
-a2
1,10,16,40,72
Assembler, IBM S/370, second format
-c
1,8,12,16,20,55
COBOL , normal format
-c2
1,6,10,14,49
COBOL compact format (columns 1-6 omitted). Using this code, the first typed character corresponds to card column 7, one space gets you to column 8, and a tab reaches column 12. Files using this tab setup should include a format specification as follows (see fspec(4) ):

<:t-c2 m6 s66 d:>

-c3
1,6,10,14,18,22,26,30,34,38,42,46,50,54,58,62,67
COBOL compact format (columns 1-6 omitted), with more tabs than -c2. This is the recommended format for COBOL . The appropriate format specification is (see fspec(4) ):

<:t-c3 m6 s66 d:>

-f
1,7,11,15,19,23
FORTRAN
-p
1,5,9,13,17,21,25,29,33,37,41,45,49,53,57,61
PL/I
-s
1,10,55
SNOBOL
-u
1,12,20,44
UNIVAC 1100 Assembler

Repetitive

-n
A repetitive specification requests tabs at columns 1+n, 1+2*n, etc., where n is a single-digit decimal number. Of particular importance is the value 8: this represents the UNIX system ‘‘standard’’ tab setting, and is the most likely tab setting to be found at a terminal. When -0 is used, the tab stops are cleared and no new ones are set.

Arbitrary

See OPERANDS.

File

--file
If the name of a file is given, tabs reads the first line of the file, searching for a format specification (see fspec(4) ). If it finds one there, it sets the tab stops according to it, otherwise it sets them as -8. This type of specification may be used to make sure that a tabbed file is printed with correct tab settings, and would be used with the pr command:

example% tabs -- file; pr file

Tab and margin setting is performed via the standard output.

Operands

The following operand is supported:
n1[,n2,...]
The arbitrary format consists of tab-stop values separated by commas or spaces. The tab-stop values must be positive decimal integers in ascending order. Up to 40 numbers are allowed. If any number (except the first one) is preceded by a plus sign, it is taken as an increment to be added to the previous value. Thus, the formats 1,10,20,30, and 1,10,+10,+10 are considered identical.

Examples

The command:

example% tabs -a

is an example using -code ( canned specification) to set tabs to the settings required by the IBM assembler: columns 1, 10, 16, 36, 72.

The next command:

example% tabs -8

is an example of using -n (repetitive specification), where n is 8, causes tabs to be set every eighth position:
1+(1*8), 1+(2*8), ... which evaluate to columns 9, 17, ...

The command:

example% tabs 1,8,36

is an example of using n1,n2,... (arbitrary specification) to set tabs at columns 1, 8, and 36.

The last command:

example% tabs --$HOME /fspec.list/att4425

is an example of using --file (file specification) to indicate that tabs should be set according to the first line of $HOME /fspec.list/att4425 (see fspec(4) ).

Environment

See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables that affect the execution of tabs: LC_CTYPE , LC_MESSAGES , and NLSPATH .
TERM
Determine the terminal type. If this variable is unset or null, and if the -T option is not specified, terminal type ansi+tabs will be used.

Exit Status

The following exit values are returned:
  1. Successful completion.
    >0
    An error occurred.

    See Also

    expand(1) , newform(1) , pr(1) , stty(1) , tput(1) , fspec(4) , terminfo(4) , environ(5) , term(5)

    Notes

    There is no consistency among different terminals regarding ways of clearing tabs and setting the left margin.

    tabs clears only 20 tabs (on terminals requiring a long sequence), but is willing to set 64.

    The tabspec used with the tabs command is different from the one used with the newform command. For example, tabs -8 sets every eighth position; whereas newform -i-8 indicates that tabs are set every eighth position.

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