1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990 The Regents of the University of California. 2.\" All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" %sccs.include.redist.man% 5.\" 6.\" @(#)fmt.1 6.7 (Berkeley) 03/14/91 7.\" 8.Vx 9.Vx 10.Dd 11.Dt FMT 1 12.Sh NAME 13.Nm fmt 14.Nd simple text formatter 15.Sh SYNOPSIS 16.Nm fmt 17.Ob 18.Ar goal 19.Op Ar maximum 20.Oe 21.Op name ... 22.Sh DESCRIPTION 23.Nm Fmt 24is a simple text formatter which reads the concatenation of input 25files (or standard input if none are given) and produces on standard 26output a version of its input with lines as close to the 27.Ar goal 28length 29as possible without exceeding the maximum. The 30.Ar goal 31length defaults 32to 65 and the maximum to 75. The spacing at the beginning of the 33input lines is preserved in the output, as are blank lines and 34interword spacing. 35.Pp 36.Nm Fmt 37is meant to format mail messages prior to sending, but may also be useful 38for other simple tasks. 39For instance, 40within visual mode of the 41.Xr ex 1 42editor (e.g. 43.Xr vi 1 ) 44the command 45.Pp 46.Dl \&!}fmt 47.Pp 48will reformat a paragraph, 49evening the lines. 50.Sh SEE ALSO 51.Xr nroff 1 , 52.Xr mail 1 53.Sh HISTORY 54.Nm Fmt 55appeared in 3 BSD. 56.Sh AUTHOR 57Kurt Shoens 58.br 59Liz Allen (added goal length concept) 60.Sh BUGS 61The program was designed to be simple and fast \- for more complex 62operations, the standard text processors are likely to be more appropriate. 63