FMT(1)                     Commands and Applications                    FMT(1)

NAME

       fmt - simple text formatter

SYNOPSIS

       fmt [ goal [ maximum ]] [ name ...  ]

DESCRIPTION

       Fmt  is  a simple text formatter which reads the concatenation of input
       files (or standard input if none are given) and  produces  on  standard
       output a version of its input with lines as close to the goal length as
       possible without exceeding the maximum.  The goal length defaults to 65
       and the maximum to 75.  The spacing at the beginning of the input lines
       is preserved in the output, as are blank lines and interword spacing.

       Fmt is meant to format mail messages prior to sending, but may also  be
       useful for other simple tasks.  For instance, within visual mode of the
       ex(1) editor (e.g.  vi(1)) the command
            !}fmt
       will reformat a paragraph, evening the lines.

SEE ALSO

       nroff(1), mail(1)

HISTORY

       The fmt command appeared in 4.3BSD.

AUTHOR

       Kurt Shoens
       Liz Allen (Added goal length concept.)
       Devin Reade (Updated for GNO.)

BUGS

       The program was designed to be simple and fast - for more complex oper‐
       ations, the standard text processors are likely to be more appropriate.



GNO                             19 October 1997                         FMT(1)