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
Report bugs to: bug-coreutils@gnu.org
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2026 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 9.10 March 2026 fmt(1)
coreutils 9.10 - Generated Thu Apr 2 13:43:58 CDT 2026