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 6.6 (Berkeley) 07/24/90 7.\" 8.Dd 9.Dt FMT 1 10.Sh NAME 11.Nm fmt 12.Nd simple text formatter 13.Sh SYNOPSIS 14.Nm fmt 15.Ob 16.Ar goal 17.Op Ar maximum 18.Oe 19.Op name ... 20.Sh DESCRIPTION 21.Nm Fmt 22is a simple text formatter which reads the concatenation of input 23files (or standard input if none are given) and produces on standard 24output a version of its input with lines as close to the 25.Ar goal 26length 27as possible without exceeding the maximum. The 28.Ar goal 29length defaults 30to 65 and the maximum to 75. The spacing at the beginning of the 31input lines is preserved in the output, as are blank lines and 32interword spacing. 33.Pp 34.Nm Fmt 35is meant to format mail messages prior to sending, but may also be useful 36for other simple tasks. 37For instance, 38within visual mode of the 39.Xr ex 1 40editor (e.g. 41.Xr vi 1 ) 42the command 43.Pp 44.Dl \&!}fmt 45.Pp 46will reformat a paragraph, 47evening the lines. 48.Sh SEE ALSO 49.Xr nroff 1 , 50.Xr mail 1 51.Sh HISTORY 52.Nm Fmt 53appeared in 3 BSD. 54.Sh AUTHOR 55Kurt Shoens 56.br 57Liz Allen (added goal length concept) 58.Sh BUGS 59The program was designed to be simple and fast \- for more complex 60operations, the standard text processors are likely to be more appropriate. 61