man > fmt(1)

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FMT(1) User Commands FMT(1)

🏷️ NAME

fmt - simple optimal text formatter

🚀 Quick Reference

Use Case	Command	Description
Format a file	fmt file.txt	Reformat all paragraphs in the file
Set line width to 80	fmt -w 80 file.txt	Maximum line width of 80 columns
Preserve first two lines indentation	fmt -c file.txt	Crown‑margin mode (keeps first two lines indented)
Reformat only lines with a prefix	fmt -p ">" file.txt	Only process lines starting with >
Split long lines without refilling	fmt -s file.txt	Split only, no refilling of short lines

📋 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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🏷️ NAME 🚀 Quick Reference 📋 SYNOPSIS 📖 DESCRIPTION ✍️ AUTHOR 🐛 REPORTING BUGS ©️ COPYRIGHT 🔗 SEE ALSO