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FMT

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: February 2026
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fmt - simple optimal text formatter

fmt [,-WIDTH/] [,OPTION/]... [,FILE/]...

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.

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#fm-c'-c, --crown-marginX'tty: link': preserve indentation of first two lines
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#fm-p'-p, --prefix=,STRINGX'tty: link'/: reformat only lines beginning with STRING, reattaching the prefix to reformatted lines
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#fm-s'-s, --split-onlyX'tty: link': split long lines, but do not refill
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#fm-t'-t, --tagged-paragraphX'tty: link': indentation of first line different from second
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#fm-u'-u, --uniform-spacingX'tty: link': one space between words, two after sentences
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#fm-w'-w, --width=,WIDTHX'tty: link'/: maximum line width (default of 75 columns)
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#fm-g'-g, --goal=,WIDTHX'tty: link'/: goal width (default of 93% of width)
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/fmt#fm-help'--helpX'tty: link': display this help and exit
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/fmt#fm-version'--versionX'tty: link': output version information and exit

Written by Ross Paterson.