GNU bug report logs - #13786
pr command does not fold

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Doh Smith <doh.smith <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: pr command does not fold
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2013 04:14:06 -0600

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Hi,

I could not get the pr command to fold the lines. Is this a bug?

I am using pr (GNU coreutils) 8.13 under GNU bash 4.2.24.

Here is an example - the following pr command produced an output that
instead of folding a long line of text in the first column, it cuts it off:

$ echo "Snow with areas of blowing snow.  Low around 24. East wind around
15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.  Chance of precipitation is 100%.
Total nighttime snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible." | pr -F
--columns=2

2013-02-22 04:08                                                  Page 1


Snow with areas of blowing snow.  L

D.S.

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #8 received at 13786 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Assaf Gordon <assafgordon <at> gmail.com>
To: Doh Smith <doh.smith <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 13786 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#13786: pr command does not fold
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2013 14:12:10 -0500

Hello,

Doh Smith wrote, On 02/22/2013 05:14 AM:
> I could not get the pr command to fold the lines. Is this a bug?
> I am using pr (GNU coreutils) 8.13 under GNU bash 4.2.24.

I think 'pr' does the pagination and columnation, but doesn't actual re-folds (=wraps) lines to your desired length.
It is 'fmt' that can split long lines and join short lines.

> 
> Here is an example - the following pr command produced an output that
> instead of folding a long line of text in the first column, it cuts it off:
> 
> $ echo "Snow with areas of blowing snow.  Low around 24. East wind around
> 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.  Chance of precipitation is 100%.
> Total nighttime snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible." | pr -F
> --columns=2
> 
> 2013-02-22 04:08                                                  Page 1
> 
> 
> Snow with areas of blowing snow.  L
> 

Example with pr and fmt:
========================
$ TEXT="Snow with areas of blowing snow.  Low around 24. East wind around
15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.  Chance of precipitation is 100%.
Total nighttime snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible."

##
## Re-fold into one column of 34 characters
##
$ echo "$TEXT" | fmt -w 34
Snow with areas of blowing snow.
Low around 24. East wind around 15
mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Chance of precipitation is 100%.
Total nighttime snow accumulation
of 2 to 4 inches possible.

##
## Columnate the text
##
$ echo "$TEXT" | fmt -w 34 | pr -F --columns=2
2013-02-22 14:08                                                  Page 1


Snow with areas of blowing snow.    is 100%.  Total nighttime snow
Low around 24. East wind around	    accumulation of 2 to 4 inches
15 mph, with gusts as high as	    possible.
25 mph.	 Chance of precipitation
=======

Notes:
1. 34 characters was chosen because the default page length of pr is 72 (and you want 2 columns + separator).

2. "pr -F" doesn't mean "fold", it means "use form-feed to separate pages" - just making sure you intended to use that.

HTH,
 -gordon

Message #11 received at 13786 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: Doh Smith <doh.smith <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 13786 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#13786: pr command does not fold
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2013 23:17:39 +0000

tag 13786 notabug
close 13786
stop

On 02/22/2013 10:14 AM, Doh Smith wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I could not get the pr command to fold the lines. Is this a bug?
>
> I am using pr (GNU coreutils) 8.13 under GNU bash 4.2.24.
>
> Here is an example - the following pr command produced an output that
> instead of folding a long line of text in the first column, it cuts it off:
>
> $ echo "Snow with areas of blowing snow.  Low around 24. East wind around
> 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.  Chance of precipitation is 100%.
> Total nighttime snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible." | pr -F
> --columns=2
>
> 2013-02-22 04:08                                                  Page 1
>
>
> Snow with areas of blowing snow.  L

fold or fmt are used to wrap text.
It can then be passed on to pr for
further layout and truncation:
You can paste this command to a terminal for illustration:

for i in $(seq 22); do
  clear
  seq -f '%03.f' 1 $i |
  fmt -w20 |
  pr -t -c2 -w40 -s'|'
  sleep 1
done

thanks,
Pádraig.

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