phpman > man > fmt(1)

Che Dong

⚡ TLDR: fmt (tldr-pages)

Reformat a text file by joining its paragraphs and limiting the line width to a number of characters (75 by default).

Reformat a file
fmt {{path/to/file}}
Reformat a file producing output lines of (at most) `n` characters
fmt {{-w|--width}} {{n}} {{path/to/file}}
Reformat a file without joining lines shorter than the given width together
fmt {{-s|--split-only}} {{path/to/file}}
Reformat a file with uniform spacing (1 space between words and 2 spaces between paragraphs)
fmt {{-u|--uniform-spacing}} {{path/to/file}}

FMT(1)                                      User Commands                                     FMT(1)



NAME
       fmt - simple optimal text formatter

SYNOPSIS
       fmt [-WIDTH] [OPTION]... [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION
       Reformat  each paragraph in the FILE(s), writing to standard output.  The option -WIDTH is an
       abbreviated form of --width=DIGITS.

       With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

       Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

       -c, --crown-margin
              preserve indentation of first two lines

       -p, --prefix=STRING
              reformat only lines beginning with STRING, reattaching the prefix to reformatted lines

       -s, --split-only
              split long lines, but do not refill

       -t, --tagged-paragraph
              indentation of first line different from second

       -u, --uniform-spacing
              one space between words, two after sentences

       -w, --width=WIDTH
              maximum line width (default of 75 columns)

       -g, --goal=WIDTH
              goal width (default of 93% of width)

       --help display this help and exit

       --version
              output version information and exit

AUTHOR
       Written by Ross Paterson.

REPORTING BUGS
       GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
       Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright © 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3  or  later
       <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
       This  is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.  There is NO WARRANTY, to
       the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO
       Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/fmt>
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) fmt invocation'



GNU coreutils 8.32                          January 2026                                      FMT(1)

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