Unix in a Nutshell, 4th Edition

Name

nl

Synopsis

    nl [options] [file]

Number the lines of file in logical page segments. Numbering resets to 1 at the start of each logical page. Pages consist of a header, body, and footer; each section may be empty. It is the body that gets numbered. The sections are delimited by special standalone lines as indicated next; the delimiter lines are copied to the output as empty lines.

Section Delimiters

\:\:\:	Start of header
\:\:	Start of body
\:	Start of footer

Common Options

-btype, --body-numbering=type

Number lines according to type. Values are:

a	All lines.
n	No lines.
t	Text lines only (the default).
p" exp "	Lines matching the regular expression exp only.

-dxy, --section-delimiter=xy

Use characters xy to delimit logical pages (default is \:).

-ftype, --footer-numbering=type

Like -b, but number footer (default type is n).

-htype, --header-numbering=type

Like -b, but number header (default type is n).

-in, --page-increment=n

Increment each line number by n (default is 1).

-ln, --join-blank-lines=n

Count n consecutive blank lines as one line.

-nformat, --number-format=format

Set line number format. Values are:

ln	Left-justify, omit leading zeros.
rn	Right-justify, omit leading zeros (default).
rz	Right-justify.

-p, --no-renumber

Do not reset numbering at start of pages.

-sc, --number-separator=string

Separate text from line number with character(s) c (default is a tab).

-vn, --first-page=n

Number each page starting at n (default is 1).

-wn, --number-width=n

Use ...