elvfmt − adjust line-length for paragraphs of text
elvfmt [−w width | −width] [−s] [−c] [−i chars] [−C] [−M] [file]...
This page describes the Elvis 2.2_0 version of elvfmt. See elvis(1).
elvfmt is a simple text formatter. It inserts or deletes newlines, as necessary, to make all lines in a paragraph be approximately the same width. It preserves indentation and word spacing.
If you don’t name any files on the command line, then elvfmt will read from stdin.
It is typically used from within vi(1) or elvis(1) to adjust the line breaks in a single paragraph. To do this, move the cursor to the top of the paragraph, type "!}elvfmt", and hit <Return>.
−w width or −width
Use a line width of width characters instead of the default of 72 characters.
−s |
Don’t join lines shorter than the line width to fill paragraphs. |
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−c |
Try to be smarter about crown margins. Specifically, this tells elvfmt to expect the first line of each paragraph to have a different indentation than subsequent lines. If text from the first input line is wrapped onto the second output line, then elvfmt will scan ahead to figure out what indentation it should use for the second output line, instead of reusing the first line’s indentation. |
−i chars
Allow the indentation text to include any character from chars, in addition to spaces and tabs. You should quote the chars list to protect it from the shell.
−C and −M
These are shortcuts for combinations of other flags. is short for and is useful for reformatting C/C++ comments. is short for and is useful for reformatting email messages.
Steve Kirkendall
kirkenda AT cs DOT pdx DOT edu