[gentoo-user] how to word-wrap using a pipe?

[gentoo-user] how to word-wrap using a pipe?

[zhangweiwu]

Hello. How can I line-wrap a text file that was not wrapped before (e.g.
like text file created on Microsoft Windows's notepad, the software does
softwrap by default, thus the file created using it often have very long
text lines) by using command pipe?

I could use vim, activate some formatting options and use gq. But that
couldn't be used on a pipe.

I could use groff, but that command line looks too complicated:

$ head -n1 max_payne | groff -Tutf8 | grep --invert-match ^$
Life was good. A house on the Jersey side across the  river.  The
smell  of  freshly  cut  lawns. The sounds of children playing. A
beautiful wife and a baby girl. The American dream come true. But
dreams  have  a nasty habit of going bad when you’re not looking.


Besides groff wraps not according to the console term width, but
according to the paper size in /etc/paper. It would be nice to have
something wrap my text by using console width (what you get with '$ stty
-a | head -n1')

-- 
Real Softservice

Huateng Tower, Unit 1788
Jia 302 3rd area of Jinsong, Chao Yang

Tel: +86 (10) 8773 0650 ext 603
Mobile: 159 1111 7382
http://www.realss.com

Re: [gentoo-user] how to word-wrap using a pipe?

[meino.cramer]

Hi

...just a shot in the dark: Try 'fmt' (UNIX standard too so no extra
install I think).

Kind regards,
Meino Cramer



zhangweiwu@realss.com <zhangweiwu@realss.com> [08-10-20 03:52]:
> Hello. How can I line-wrap a text file that was not wrapped before (e.g.
> like text file created on Microsoft Windows's notepad, the software does
> softwrap by default, thus the file created using it often have very long
> text lines) by using command pipe?
> 
> I could use vim, activate some formatting options and use gq. But that
> couldn't be used on a pipe.
> 
> I could use groff, but that command line looks too complicated:
> 
> $ head -n1 max_payne | groff -Tutf8 | grep --invert-match ^$
> Life was good. A house on the Jersey side across the  river.  The
> smell  of  freshly  cut  lawns. The sounds of children playing. A
> beautiful wife and a baby girl. The American dream come true. But
> dreams  have  a nasty habit of going bad when you’re not looking.
> 
> 
> Besides groff wraps not according to the console term width, but
> according to the paper size in /etc/paper. It would be nice to have
> something wrap my text by using console width (what you get with '$ stty
> -a | head -n1')
> 
> -- 
> Real Softservice
> 
> Huateng Tower, Unit 1788
> Jia 302 3rd area of Jinsong, Chao Yang
> 
> Tel: +86 (10) 8773 0650 ext 603
> Mobile: 159 1111 7382
> http://www.realss.com
> 
> 

-- 
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Re: [gentoo-user] how to word-wrap using a pipe?

[paulcol]

On Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 09:13:46AM +0800, zhangweiwu@realss.com wrote:
> Hello. How can I line-wrap a text file that was not wrapped before (e.g.
> like text file created on Microsoft Windows's notepad, the software does
> softwrap by default, thus the file created using it often have very long
> text lines) by using command pipe?
> 
> I could use vim, activate some formatting options and use gq. But that
> couldn't be used on a pipe.
> 
> I could use groff, but that command line looks too complicated:
> 
> $ head -n1 max_payne | groff -Tutf8 | grep --invert-match ^$
> Life was good. A house on the Jersey side across the  river.  The
> smell  of  freshly  cut  lawns. The sounds of children playing. A
> beautiful wife and a baby girl. The American dream come true. But
> dreams  have  a nasty habit of going bad when you’re not looking.
> 
> 
> Besides groff wraps not according to the console term width, but
> according to the paper size in /etc/paper. It would be nice to have
> something wrap my text by using console width (what you get with '$ stty
> -a | head -n1')


$ man -k wrap | fgrep line
Text::Wrap           (3pm)  - line wrapping to form simple paragraphs
fold                 (1)  - wrap each input line to fit in specified width
ggz-wrapper          (6)  - GGZ Gaming Zone command line core client


Hmm, 'fold' looks promising...


$ fold --help
Usage: fold [OPTION]... [FILE]...
Wrap input lines in each FILE (standard input by default), writing to
standard output.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
  -b, --bytes         count bytes rather than columns
  -s, --spaces        break at spaces
  -w, --width=WIDTH   use WIDTH columns instead of 80
      --help     display this help and exit
      --version  output version information and exit


-- 
Reverend Paul Colquhoun, ULC.    http://andor.dropbear.id.au/~paulcol
     Asking for technical help in newsgroups?  Read this first:
        http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#intro

Re: [gentoo-user] how to word-wrap using a pipe?

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:19:31 +1100, paulcol@andor.dropbear.id.au wrote:

> Hmm, 'fold' looks promising...

I've been using this one for years and it does exactly what it says.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Used Iraqi rifles for sale: Dropped once, never fired...

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Re: [gentoo-user] how to word-wrap using a pipe?

[djanderson]

Zhang Weiwu wrote:
> 
> Hello. How can I line-wrap a text file that was not wrapped before (e.g.
> like text file created on Microsoft Windows's notepad, the software does
> softwrap by default, thus the file created using it often have very long
> text lines) by using command pipe?
> 

I think you'll find what you're looking for in the 'fmt' standard unix
command. `man fmt', it's part of coreutils.

-Doug

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Re: [gentoo-user] how to word-wrap using a pipe?

[zhangweiwu]

Neil Bothwick wrote:
> On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:19:31 +1100, paulcol@andor.dropbear.id.au wrote:
> 
>> Hmm, 'fold' looks promising...
> 
> I've been using this one for years and it does exactly what it says.
> 
> 

Great thanks for all the answers. fmt and fold both enlightened me.

-- 
Real Softservice

Huateng Tower, Unit 1788
Jia 302 3rd area of Jinsong, Chao Yang

Tel: +86 (10) 8773 0650 ext 603
Mobile: 159 1111 7382
http://www.realss.com