On 01:24:35, 5.01.16, Ingo Schwarze wrote:
> +If an output line would be broken after a non-blank character but
> +contains at least one blank character, break the line earlier,
> +after the last blank character.
> +This is useful to avoid line breaks in the middle of words, if
> +possible.
After a second look, even though the current documentation mentions
a "blank character" the source code shows that in fact a space is meant:
if (split_words) {
for (i = 0, last_space = -1; i < indx; i++)
if(buf[i] == ' ')
last_space = i;
}
$ echo -e '7777777\taaaaaaaaaaaaa' | fold -sw 16
7777777 aaaaaaaa
aaaaa
The comment in the code has it right:
* If split_words is set, split the line at the last space character
* on the line.
I don't know how to make this description more readable yet precise,
maybe at least "blank" should be replaced with "space":
Index: fold.1
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/src/usr.bin/fold/fold.1,v
retrieving revision 1.16
diff -u -p -r1.16 fold.1
--- fold.1 28 Dec 2011 22:27:18 -0000 1.16
+++ fold.1 5 Jan 2016 07:13:22 -0000
@@ -54,9 +54,11 @@ Count
.Ar width
in bytes rather than column positions.
.It Fl s
-Fold line after the last blank character within the first
+Fold line after the last space character within the first
.Ar width
column positions (or bytes).
+If a space character does not exist within the width, then
+a longer line will still be split at the width.
.It Fl w Ar width
Specifies a line width to use instead of the default 80 characters.
.El
--
Michal Mazurek
