unexpand(1) User Commands unexpand(1)
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.
-a, --all
convert all blanks, instead of just initial blanks
--first-only
convert only leading sequences of blanks (overrides -a)
-t, --tabs=N
have tabs N characters apart instead of 8 (enables -a)
-t, --tabs=LIST
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
--help display this help and exit
--version
output version information and exit
AUTHOR
Written by David MacKenzie.
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
expand(1)
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/unexpand>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) unexpand invocation'
GNU coreutils 9.10 March 2026 unexpand(1)
coreutils 9.10 - Generated Thu Apr 2 18:44:54 CDT 2026