Smart Format: smtfmt

Introduction

The smtfmt utility was written to replace the fmt standard filter. It can be used to format plain text, most conveniently within textedit or other windows that use the same widget.

At first its most valuable feature was that it did not discard special characters (characters with a code larger than 127, such as accented characters). Since that time many other features have been added.

Usage

smtfmt is a simple filter program, that is, it reads the text from the standard input and it sends the formatted result to standard output. It does not accept parameters in the usual way (i.e. no command line parameters), instead, it is designed to read control sequences from input text lines beginning with the @@ keyword followed by white space. The first control sequence you want to try is @@ help, which yields the following result:

Control lines have the form: @@ option_1 option_2 ... option_n
where option_i is one of the following:
    lm<n>     Set left margin to <n>
    flm<n>    Set left margin in the first line to <n>
    rm<n>     Set right margin to <n>
    fmt<n>    Switch formatting on (<n>=1, default) or off (<n>=0)
    arm<n>    Switch automatic right margin on (<n>=1, default)
              or off (<n>=0) (only has effect if formatting is off)
    mp<n>     Multiple paragraphs on (<n>=1, default) or off (<n>=0)
    ju<n>     Switch both-side justifying on (<n>=1) or off (<n>=0, default)
    lp<n>     Switch left-hand padding on (<n>=1) or off (<n>=0, default)
    rp<n>     Switch right-hand padding on (<n>=1) or off (<n>=0, default)
    !<cmd>    Filter the result with command <cmd> (no more options are
              allowed in the line after !<cmd>)

Usually, the input consists of a control line followed by the text to be formatted, as seen in the following example, which formats the text with a left margin of four spaces and a right margin set to 30, justifying the output lines on both the left and the right side:

@@ lm4 rm30 ju1
``Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might
appear to others that what you were or might have been was not
otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them
to be otherwise.''

The result looks like this:

    ``Never  imagine  yourself
    not to be  otherwise  than
    what  it  might  appear to
    others that what you  were
    or might have been was not
    otherwise  than  what  you
    had    been   would   have
    appeared  to  them  to  be
    otherwise.''

Installation

The most convenient way of using the formatter is from textedit. Insert the following line into your ~/.text_extras_menu file:

"Smart Format"		smtfmt

To invoke the formatter, write the necessary control line (beginning with @@, only needed if default options aren't satisfactory) in front of the text to be formatted, and then select the text together with the control line so that the control line is the first line of the selection. Press the right-hand mouse button and select Smart Format.

Features

Left Margin: lm<n>

This option sets the left margin to the specified value. Exactly n spaces will precede each line in the formatted text.

Left Margin For First Line of Paragraph: lm<n>

This amount of spaces will be used in each line that is the first one in a paragraph. Paragraphs are separated in the input text by empty lines.

Right Margin: rm<n>

This option sets the right margin to the specified value. Lines will normally not be longer than n characters. Note that this is not possible in case of words that themselves are longer than the right margin would allow.

Format Switch: fmt<n>

n=1 (the default) means that formatting should take place. By formatting I mean that the input text is broken into output lines so that the output lines are as long as possible but not longer than the prescribed limit.

n=0 will generate the output so that an input line is transformed into one output line. Might be useful when combined with the lp or rp options, for example.

Automatic Right Margin Switch: arm<n>

If switched on (n=0, default), the right margin will be determined by the longest input line. Only effective when combined with fmt0.

Multiple Paragraphs Switch: mp<n>

When switched on (n=1, default), empty lines in the input text are interpreted as paragraph separators. If n=0 is used (multiple paragraphs off), the whole input text is regarded as one single paragraph.

Justification Switch: ju<n>

If switched on (n=1), both the left and the right side of the output text is aligned to the margin by inserting enough space characters between the words of the line. The default setting is that this should not take place (n=0).

Left Padding Switch: lp<n>

The left-hand padding ("> ") is inserted in front of the output lines if the switch is on. Default setting is no padding.

Right Padding Switch: rp<n>

The right-hand padding (" <") is appended to the output lines if the switch is on. Default setting is no padding.

Invoke Other Filter Program: !<cmd>

The output lines are filtered with the program indicated in <cmd>. Formatting is switched off by default when using this filtering. The whole part of the control line after the exclamation mark is considered as <cmd>, so this must be the last option in the control line.

Example 1: Count the number of lines (words, characters) in the input:

@@ !wc

Example 2: Discard all words but the last in each input line and display the result in alphabetical order. Display each word only once:

@@ !awk '{ print $NF }' | sort | uniq

Example 3: Number the lines:

@@ !awk '{ printf "%5d %s\n", ++line_number, $0 }'

Page last updated: 1999-09-15

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