UNEXPAND

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

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NAME

unexpand - convert spaces to tabs  

SYNOPSIS

unexpand [,OPTION/]... [,FILE/]...  

DESCRIPTION

Convert blanks in each FILE to tabs, writing to standard output.

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#unexpan-a'-a, --allX'tty: link'

convert all blanks, instead of just initial blanks

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#unexpan-firs-only'--first-onlyX'tty: link'

convert only leading sequences of blanks (overrides -a)

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#unexpan-t'-t, --tabs=,NX'tty: link'/

have tabs N characters apart instead of 8 (enables -a)

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#unexpan-t'-t, --tabs=,LISTX'tty: link'/

use comma separated list of tab positions. The last specified position can be prefixed with '/' to specify a tab size to use after the last explicitly specified tab stop. Also a prefix of '+' can be used to align remaining tab stops relative to the last specified tab stop instead of the first column

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

display this help and exit

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

output version information and exit

 

AUTHOR

Written by David MacKenzie.  

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

expand(1)

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

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Index

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

AUTHOR

REPORTING BUGS

SEE ALSO