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PROLOG | NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | OPERANDS | STDIN | INPUT FILES | ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES | ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS | STDOUT | STDERR | OUTPUT FILES | EXTENDED DESCRIPTION | EXIT STATUS | CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS | APPLICATION USAGE | EXAMPLES | RATIONALE | FUTURE DIRECTIONS | SEE ALSO | COPYRIGHT |
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PR(1P) POSIX Programmer's Manual PR(1P)
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The
Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the
corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or
the interface may not be implemented on Linux.
pr — print files
pr [+page] [-column] [-adFmrt] [-e[char][gap]] [-h header] [-i[char][gap]]
[-l lines] [-n[char][width]] [-o offset] [-s[char]] [-w width] [-fp]
[file...]
The pr utility is a printing and pagination filter. If multiple
input files are specified, each shall be read, formatted, and
written to standard output. By default, the input shall be
separated into 66-line pages, each with:
* A 5-line header that includes the page number, date, time, and
the pathname of the file
* A 5-line trailer consisting of blank lines
If standard output is associated with a terminal, diagnostic
messages shall be deferred until the pr utility has completed
processing.
When options specifying multi-column output are specified, output
text columns shall be of equal width; input lines that do not fit
into a text column shall be truncated. By default, text columns
shall be separated with at least one <blank>.
The pr utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of
POSIX.1‐2017, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines, except
that: the page option has a '+' delimiter; page and column can be
multi-digit numbers; some of the option-arguments are optional;
and some of the option-arguments cannot be specified as separate
arguments from the preceding option letter. In particular, the -s
option does not allow the option letter to be separated from its
argument, and the options -e, -i, and -n require that both
arguments, if present, not be separated from the option letter.
The following options shall be supported. In the following option
descriptions, column, lines, offset, page, and width are positive
decimal integers; gap is a non-negative decimal integer.
+page Begin output at page number page of the formatted input.
-column Produce multi-column output that is arranged in column
columns (the default shall be 1) and is written down
each column in the order in which the text is received
from the input file. This option should not be used with
-m. The options -e and -i shall be assumed for multiple
text-column output. Whether or not text columns are
produced with identical vertical lengths is unspecified,
but a text column shall never exceed the length of the
page (see the -l option). When used with -t, use the
minimum number of lines to write the output.
-a Modify the effect of the -column option so that the
columns are filled across the page in a round-robin
order (for example, when column is 2, the first input
line heads column 1, the second heads column 2, the
third is the second line in column 1, and so on).
-d Produce output that is double-spaced; append an extra
<newline> following every <newline> found in the input.
-e[char][gap]
Expand each input <tab> to the next greater column
position specified by the formula n*gap+1, where n is an
integer > 0. If gap is zero or is omitted, it shall
default to 8. All <tab> characters in the input shall be
expanded into the appropriate number of <space>
characters. If any non-digit character, char, is
specified, it shall be used as the input <tab>. If the
first character of the -e option-argument is a digit,
the entire option-argument shall be assumed to be gap.
-f Use a <form-feed> for new pages, instead of the default
behavior that uses a sequence of <newline> characters.
Pause before beginning the first page if the standard
output is associated with a terminal.
-F Use a <form-feed> for new pages, instead of the default
behavior that uses a sequence of <newline> characters.
-h header Use the string header to replace the contents of the
file operand in the page header.
-i[char][gap]
In output, replace <space> characters with <tab>
characters wherever one or more adjacent <space>
characters reach column positions gap+1, 2* gap+1, 3*
gap+1, and so on. If gap is zero or is omitted, default
tab settings at every eighth column position shall be
assumed. If any non-digit character, char, is specified,
it shall be used as the output <tab>. If the first
character of the -i option-argument is a digit, the
entire option-argument shall be assumed to be gap.
-l lines Override the 66-line default and reset the page length
to lines. If lines is not greater than the sum of both
the header and trailer depths (in lines), the pr utility
shall suppress both the header and trailer, as if the -t
option were in effect.
-m Merge files. Standard output shall be formatted so the
pr utility writes one line from each file specified by a
file operand, side by side into text columns of equal
fixed widths, in terms of the number of column
positions. Implementations shall support merging of at
least nine file operands.
-n[char][width]
Provide width-digit line numbering (default for width
shall be 5). The number shall occupy the first width
column positions of each text column of default output
or each line of -m output. If char (any non-digit
character) is given, it shall be appended to the line
number to separate it from whatever follows (default for
char is a <tab>).
-o offset Each line of output shall be preceded by offset <space>
characters. If the -o option is not specified, the
default offset shall be zero. The space taken is in
addition to the output line width (see the -w option
below).
-p Pause before beginning each page if the standard output
is directed to a terminal (pr shall write an <alert> to
standard error and wait for a <carriage-return> to be
read on /dev/tty).
-r Write no diagnostic reports on failure to open files.
-s[char] Separate text columns by the single character char
instead of by the appropriate number of <space>
characters (default for char shall be <tab>).
-t Write neither the five-line identifying header nor the
five-line trailer usually supplied for each page. Quit
writing after the last line of each file without spacing
to the end of the page.
-w width Set the width of the line to width column positions for
multiple text-column output only. If the -w option is
not specified and the -s option is not specified, the
default width shall be 72. If the -w option is not
specified and the -s option is specified, the default
width shall be 512.
For single column output, input lines shall not be
truncated.
The following operand shall be supported:
file A pathname of a file to be written. If no file operands
are specified, or if a file operand is '-', the standard
input shall be used.
The standard input shall be used only if no file operands are
specified, or if a file operand is '-'. See the INPUT FILES
section.
The input files shall be text files.
The file /dev/tty shall be used to read responses required by the
-p option.
The following environment variables shall affect the execution of
pr:
LANG Provide a default value for the internationalization
variables that are unset or null. (See the Base
Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, Section 8.2,
Internationalization Variables the precedence of
internationalization variables used to determine the
values of locale categories.)
LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, override the values
of all the other internationalization variables.
LC_CTYPE Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences
of bytes of text data as characters (for example,
single-byte as opposed to multi-byte characters in
arguments and input files) and which characters are
defined as printable (character class print). Non-
printable characters are still written to standard
output, but are not counted for the purpose for column-
width and line-length calculations.
LC_MESSAGES
Determine the locale that should be used to affect the
format and contents of diagnostic messages written to
standard error.
LC_TIME Determine the format of the date and time for use in
writing header lines.
NLSPATH Determine the location of message catalogs for the
processing of LC_MESSAGES.
TZ Determine the timezone used to calculate date and time
strings written in header lines. If TZ is unset or null,
an unspecified default timezone shall be used.
If pr receives an interrupt while writing to a terminal, it shall
flush all accumulated error messages to the screen before
terminating.
The pr utility output shall be a paginated version of the original
file (or files). This pagination shall be accomplished using
either <form-feed> characters or a sequence of <newline>
characters, as controlled by the -F or -f option. Page headers
shall be generated unless the -t option is specified. The page
headers shall be of the form:
"\n\n%s %s Page %d\n\n\n", <output of date>, <file>, <page number>
In the POSIX locale, the <output of date> field, representing the
date and time of last modification of the input file (or the
current date and time if the input file is standard input), shall
be equivalent to the output of the following command as it would
appear if executed at the given time:
date "+%b %e %H:%M %Y"
without the trailing <newline>, if the page being written is from
standard input. If the page being written is not from standard
input, in the POSIX locale, the same format shall be used, but the
time used shall be the modification time of the file corresponding
to file instead of the current time. When the LC_TIME locale
category is not set to the POSIX locale, a different format and
order of presentation of this field may be used.
If the standard input is used instead of a file operand, the
<file> field shall be replaced by a null string.
If the -h option is specified, the <file> field shall be replaced
by the header argument.
The standard error shall be used for diagnostic messages and for
alerting the terminal when -p is specified.
None.
None.
The following exit values shall be returned:
0 Successful completion.
>0 An error occurred.
Default.
The following sections are informative.
A conforming application must protect its first operand, if it
starts with a <plus-sign>, by preceding it with the "--" argument
that denotes the end of the options. For example, pr+x could be
interpreted as an invalid page number or a file operand.
1. Print a numbered list of all files in the current directory:
ls -a | pr -n -h "Files in $(pwd)."
2. Print file1 and file2 as a double-spaced, three-column listing
headed by ``file list'':
pr -3d -h "file list" file1 file2
3. Write file1 on file2, expanding tabs to columns 10, 19, 28,
...:
pr -e9 -t <file1 >file2
This utility is one of those that does not follow the Utility
Syntax Guidelines because of its historical origins. The standard
developers could have added new options that obeyed the guidelines
(and marked the old options obsolescent) or devised an entirely
new utility; there are examples of both actions in this volume of
POSIX.1‐2017. Because of its widespread use by historical
applications, the standard developers decided to exempt this
version of pr from many of the guidelines.
Implementations are required to accept option-arguments to the -h,
-l, -o, and -w options whether presented as part of the same
argument or as a separate argument to pr, as suggested by the
Utility Syntax Guidelines. The -n and -s options, however, are
specified as in historical practice because they are frequently
specified without their optional arguments. If a <blank> were
allowed before the option-argument in these cases, a file operand
could mistakenly be interpreted as an option-argument in
historical applications.
The text about the minimum number of lines in multi-column output
was included to ensure that a best effort is made in balancing the
length of the columns. There are known historical implementations
in which, for example, 60-line files are listed by pr -2 as one
column of 56 lines and a second of 4. Although this is not a
problem when a full page with headers and trailers is produced, it
would be relatively useless when used with -t.
Historical implementations of the pr utility have differed in the
action taken for the -f option. BSD uses it as described here for
the -F option; System V uses it to change trailing <newline>
characters on each page to a <form-feed> and, if standard output
is a TTY device, sends an <alert> to standard error and reads a
line from /dev/tty before the first page. There were strong
arguments from both sides of this issue concerning historical
practice and as a result the -F option was added. XSI-conformant
systems support the System V historical actions for the -f option.
The <output of date> field in the -l format is specified only for
the POSIX locale. As noted, the format can be different in other
locales. No mechanism for defining this is present in this volume
of POSIX.1‐2017, as the appropriate vehicle is a message catalog;
that is, the format should be specified as a ``message''.
None.
expand(1p), lp(1p)
The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, Chapter 8,
Environment Variables, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic
form from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information
Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The
Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright
(C) 2018 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,
Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between
this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard,
the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee
document. The original Standard can be obtained online at
http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .
Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page
are most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of
the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see
https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .
IEEE/The Open Group 2017 PR(1P)
Pages that refer to this page: nl(1p), paste(1p)
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HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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