PTX

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: February 2026
Index Return to Main Contents

---

 

NAME

ptx - produce a permuted index of file contents  

SYNOPSIS

ptx [,OPTION/]... [,INPUT/]... ,(without-G)/
ptx ,-G /[,OPTION/]... [,INPUT /[,OUTPUT/]]  

DESCRIPTION

Output a permuted index, including context, of the words in the input files.

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#pt-A'-A, --auto-referenceX'tty: link'

output automatically generated references

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#pt-G'-G, --traditionalX'tty: link'

behave more like System V 'ptx'

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#pt-F'-F, --flag-truncation=,STRINGX'tty: link'/

use STRING for flagging line truncations. The default is '/'

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#pt-M'-M, --macro-name=,STRINGX'tty: link'/

macro name to use instead of 'xx'

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#pt-O'-O, --format=,roffX'tty: link'/

generate output as roff directives

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#pt-R'-R, --right-side-refsX'tty: link'

put references at right, not counted in -w

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#pt-S'-S, --sentence-regexp=,REGEXPX'tty: link'/

for end of lines or end of sentences

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#pt-T'-T, --format=,texX'tty: link'/

generate output as TeX directives

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#pt-W'-W, --word-regexp=,REGEXPX'tty: link'/

use REGEXP to match each keyword

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#pt-b'-b, --break-file=,FILEX'tty: link'/

word break characters in this FILE

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#pt-f'-f, --ignore-caseX'tty: link'

fold lower case to upper case for sorting

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#pt-g'-g, --gap-size=,NUMBERX'tty: link'/

gap size in columns between output fields

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#pt-i'-i, --ignore-file=,FILEX'tty: link'/

read ignore word list from FILE

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#pt-o'-o, --only-file=,FILEX'tty: link'/

read only word list from this FILE

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#pt-r'-r, --referencesX'tty: link'

first field of each line is a reference

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#pt-t'-t, --typeset-modeX'tty: link'

change the default width from 72 to 100

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#pt-w'-w, --width=,NUMBERX'tty: link'/

output width in columns, reference excluded

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/ptx#pt-help'--helpX'tty: link'

display this help and exit

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/ptx#pt-version'--versionX'tty: link'

output version information and exit

 

AUTHOR

Written by F. Pinard.  

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to: bug-coreutils@gnu.org

Report Gentoo bugs to: https://bugs.gentoo.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/>  

SEE ALSO

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/ptx>
or available locally via: info aq(coreutils) ptx invocationaq

Packaged by Gentoo (9.10 (p0))
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.

---

 

Index

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

AUTHOR

REPORTING BUGS

SEE ALSO