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.TH TBL 1

.SH NAME

tbl \- format tables for nroff or troff

.SH SYNOPSIS

.B tbl

[

.I file ...

]

.SH DESCRIPTION

.I Tbl

is a preprocessor for formatting tables for

.I nroff

or

.IR troff (1).

The input

.I files

are copied to the standard output,

except for segments of the form

.IP

.nf

.B .TS

.IB options " ;

.IB format " .

.I data

.B .T&

.IB format " .

.I data

\&. . .

.B .TE

.fi

.LP

which describe tables

and are replaced by

.I troff 

requests to lay out the tables.

If no arguments are given,

.I tbl

reads the standard input.

.PP

The (optional)

.I options

line is terminated by a semicolon and contains one or more

of

.RS

.TF linesize(n)

.TP

.B center

center the table; default is left-adjust

.TP

.B expand

make table as wide as current line length

.TP

.B box

.TP

.B doublebox

enclose the table in a box or double box

.TP

.B allbox

enclose every item in a box

.TP

.BI tab( x )

use 

.I x

to separate input items; default is tab

.TP

.BI linesize( n )

set rules in

.IR n -point

type

.TP

.BI delim( xy )

recognize

.I x

and

.I y

as

.IR eqn (1)

delimiters

.PD

.RE

.PP

Each line, except the last, of the obligatory

.I format

describes one row of the table.

The last line describes all rows until the next

.BR .T& ,

where the format changes,

or the end of the table at

.BR .TE .

A format is specified by key letters, one per column, either upper or lower case:

.RS

.TP 0

.B L

Left justify: the default for

columns without format keys.

.PD0

.TP

.B R

Right justify.

.TP

.B C

Center.

.TP

.B N

Numeric: align at decimal point (inferred for integers) or at

.LR \e& .

.TP

.B S

Span: extend previous column across this one.

.TP

.B A

Alphabetic: left-aligned within column, widest item centered, indented relative to 

.B L

rows.

.TP

.B ^

Vertical span: continue item from previous row into this row.

.TP

.B -

Draw a horizontal rule in this column.

.TP

.B =

Draw a double horizontal rule in this column.

.PD

.RE

.PP

Key letters may be followed by modifiers, also either case:

.RS

.TP \w'\fLF\fIfont\fLXX'u

.B |

Draw vertical rule between columns.

.PD0

.TP

.B ||

Draw a double vertical rule between columns.

.TP

.I n

Gap between column is

.I n

ens wide.

Default is 3.

.TP

.BI F font

Use specified

.IR font .

.B B

and

.B I

mean

.B FB

and

.BR FI .

.TP

.B T

Begin vertically-spanned item at top row of range; default is 

vertical centering (with

.LR ^ ).

.TP

.BI P n

Use point size

.IR n .

.TP

.BI V n

Use

.IR n -point

vertical spacing in text block; signed

.I n

means relative change.

.TP

.BI W( n )

Column width as a

.I troff

width specification.

Parens are optional if

.I n

is a simple integer.

.TP

.B E

Equalize the widths of all columns marked

.BR E .

.PD

.RE

.PP

Each line of

.I data

becomes one row of the table; tabs separate items.

Lines beginning with

.L .

are 

.I troff 

requests.

Certain special data items are recognized:

.RS

.TP 0

.B _

Draw a horizontal rule in this column.

.PD0

.TP

.B =

Draw a double horizontal rule in this column.

A data line consisting of a single

.L _

or

.L =

draws the rule across the whole table.

.TP

.B \e_

Draw a rule only as wide as the contents of the column.

.TP

.BI \eR x

Repeat character

.I x

across the column.

.TP

.B \e^

Span the previous item in this column down into this row.

.TP

.B T{

The item is a text block to be separately formatted

by

.I troff 

and placed in the table.

The block continues to the next line beginning with

.BR T} .

The remainder of the data line follows at that point.

.PD

.RE

.PP

When it is used in a pipeline with

.IR eqn ,

the

.I tbl

command should be first, to minimize the volume

of data passed through

pipes.

.SH EXAMPLES

.ds tb \fR<tab>\fP

Let \*(tb

represent a tab (which should

be typed as a genuine tab).

.if t .2C

.EX

\&.TS

c s s

c c s

c c c

l n n.

Household Population

Town\*(tbHouseholds

\*(tbNumber\*(tbSize

Bedminster\*(tb789\*(tb3.26

Bernards Twp.\*(tb3087\*(tb3.74

Bernardsville\*(tb2018\*(tb3.30

\&.TE

.if t \{\0 

\0 

\0\}

.if n .PP

.TS

c s s

c c s

c c c

l n n.

Household Population

Town	Households

	Number	Size

Bedminster	789	3.26

Bernards Twp.	3087	3.74

Bernardsville	2018	3.30

.TE

.EE

.if t \{.sp3

.1C\}

.SH SOURCE

.B /sys/src/cmd/tbl

.SH SEE ALSO

.IR troff (1), 

.IR eqn (1),

.IR doctype (1)

.br

M. E. Lesk and L. L. Cherry,

``TBL\(ema Program to Format Tables'',

.I

Unix Research System Programmer's Manual,

Tenth Edition, Volume 2.