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29 * @Id: tabs.1,v 1.20 2019/02/16 23:56:38 tom Exp @
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41 <H1 class="no-header">tabs 1</H1>
43 <STRONG><A HREF="tabs.1.html">tabs(1)</A></STRONG> General Commands Manual <STRONG><A HREF="tabs.1.html">tabs(1)</A></STRONG>
48 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
49 <STRONG>tabs</STRONG> - set tabs on a terminal
52 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
53 <STRONG>tabs</STRONG> [<EM>options</EM>]] <EM>[tabstop-list]</EM>
56 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
57 The <STRONG>tabs</STRONG> program clears and sets tab-stops on the terminal. This uses
58 the terminfo <EM>clear</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>all</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>tabs</EM> and <EM>set</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>tab</EM> capabilities. If either is
59 absent, <STRONG>tabs</STRONG> is unable to clear/set tab-stops. The terminal should be
60 configured to use hard tabs, e.g.,
64 Like <STRONG><A HREF="clear.1.html">clear(1)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG>tabs</STRONG> writes to the standard output. You can redirect
65 the standard output to a file (which prevents <STRONG>tabs</STRONG> from actually chang-
66 ing the tabstops), and later <STRONG>cat</STRONG> the file to the screen, setting tab-
69 These are hardware tabs, which cannot be queried rapidly by applica-
70 tions running in the terminal, if at all. Curses and other full-screen
71 applications may use hardware tabs in optimizing their output to the
72 terminal. If the hardware tabstops differ from the information in the
73 terminal database, the result is unpredictable.
76 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-OPTIONS">OPTIONS</a></H2><PRE>
78 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-General-Options">General Options</a></H3><PRE>
79 <STRONG>-T</STRONG><EM>name</EM>
80 Tell <STRONG>tabs</STRONG> which terminal type to use. If this option is not
81 given, <STRONG>tabs</STRONG> will use the <STRONG>$TERM</STRONG> environment variable. If that is
82 not set, it will use the <EM>ansi+tabs</EM> entry.
84 <STRONG>-d</STRONG> The debugging option shows a ruler line, followed by two data
85 lines. The first data line shows the expected tab-stops marked
86 with asterisks. The second data line shows the actual tab-stops,
87 marked with asterisks.
89 <STRONG>-n</STRONG> This option tells <STRONG>tabs</STRONG> to check the options and run any debugging
90 option, but not to modify the terminal settings.
92 <STRONG>-V</STRONG> reports the version of ncurses which was used in this program, and
95 The <STRONG>tabs</STRONG> program processes a single list of tab stops. The last option
96 to be processed which defines a list is the one that determines the
100 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Implicit-Lists">Implicit Lists</a></H3><PRE>
101 Use a single number as an option, e.g., "<STRONG>-5</STRONG>" to set tabs at the given
102 interval (in this case 1, 6, 11, 16, 21, etc.). Tabs are repeated up
103 to the right margin of the screen.
105 Use "<STRONG>-0</STRONG>" to clear all tabs.
107 Use "<STRONG>-8</STRONG>" to set tabs to the standard interval.
110 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Explicit-Lists">Explicit Lists</a></H3><PRE>
111 An explicit list can be defined after the options (this does not use a
112 "-"). The values in the list must be in increasing numeric order, and
113 greater than zero. They are separated by a comma or a blank, for exam-
119 Use a "+" to treat a number as an increment relative to the previous
124 which is equivalent to the 1,6,11,16,21 example.
127 </PRE><H3><a name="h3-Predefined-Tab-Stops">Predefined Tab-Stops</a></H3><PRE>
128 X/Open defines several predefined lists of tab stops.
130 <STRONG>-a</STRONG> Assembler, IBM S/370, first format
132 <STRONG>-a2</STRONG> Assembler, IBM S/370, second format
134 <STRONG>-c</STRONG> COBOL, normal format
136 <STRONG>-c2</STRONG> COBOL compact format
138 <STRONG>-c3</STRONG> COBOL compact format extended
140 <STRONG>-f</STRONG> FORTRAN
142 <STRONG>-p</STRONG> PL/I
144 <STRONG>-s</STRONG> SNOBOL
146 <STRONG>-u</STRONG> UNIVAC 1100 Assembler
149 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
150 <EM>IEEE</EM> <EM>Std</EM> <EM>1003.1/The</EM> <EM>Open</EM> <EM>Group</EM> <EM>Base</EM> <EM>Specifications</EM> <EM>Issue</EM> <EM>7</EM>
151 (POSIX.1-2008) describes a <STRONG>tabs</STRONG> utility. However
153 <STRONG>o</STRONG> This standard describes a <STRONG>+m</STRONG> option, to set a terminal's left-mar-
154 gin. Very few of the entries in the terminal database provide this
157 <STRONG>o</STRONG> There is no counterpart in X/Open Curses Issue 7 for this utility,
158 unlike <STRONG>tput(1)</STRONG>.
160 The <STRONG>-d</STRONG> (debug) and <STRONG>-n</STRONG> (no-op) options are extensions not provided by
161 other implementations.
163 Documentation for other implementations states that there is a limit on
164 the number of tab stops. While some terminals may not accept an arbi-
165 trary number of tab stops, this implementation will attempt to set tab
166 stops up to the right margin of the screen, if the given list happens
170 </PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
171 <STRONG><A HREF="tset.1.html">tset(1)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="infocmp.1m.html">infocmp(1m)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
173 This describes <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> version 6.1 (patch 20190518).
177 <STRONG><A HREF="tabs.1.html">tabs(1)</A></STRONG>
181 <li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
182 <li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
183 <li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></li>
184 <li><a href="#h2-OPTIONS">OPTIONS</a>
186 <li><a href="#h3-General-Options">General Options</a></li>
187 <li><a href="#h3-Implicit-Lists">Implicit Lists</a></li>
188 <li><a href="#h3-Explicit-Lists">Explicit Lists</a></li>
189 <li><a href="#h3-Predefined-Tab-Stops">Predefined Tab-Stops</a></li>
192 <li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></li>
193 <li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>