NAME

nl - number lines of files

SYNOPSIS

nl [OPTION]... [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION

Write each FILE to standard output, with line numbers added. With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

-b, --body-numbering=STYLE

use STYLE for numbering body lines

-d, --section-delimiter=CC

use CC for separating logical pages

-f, --footer-numbering=STYLE

use STYLE for numbering footer lines

-h, --header-numbering=STYLE

use STYLE for numbering header lines

-i, --line-increment=NUMBER

line number increment at each line

-l, --join-blank-lines=NUMBER

group of NUMBER empty lines counted as one

-n, --number-format=FORMAT

insert line numbers according to FORMAT

-p, --no-renumber

do not reset line numbers at logical pages

-s, --number-separator=STRING

add STRING after (possible) line number

-v, --starting-line-number=NUMBER

first line number on each logical page

-w, --number-width=NUMBER

use NUMBER columns for line numbers

--help

display this help and exit

--version

output version information and exit

By default, selects -v1 -i1 -l1 -sTAB -w6 -nrn -hn -bt -fn. CC are two delimiter characters for separating logical pages, a missing second character implies :. Type \\ for \. STYLE is one of:

a

number all lines

t

number only nonempty lines

n

number no lines

pBRE

number only lines that contain a match for the basic regular expression, BRE

FORMAT is one of:

ln

left justified, no leading zeros

rn

right justified, no leading zeros

rz

right justified, leading zeros

GNU coreutils online help: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/> Report nl translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>

AUTHOR

Written by Scott Bartram and David MacKenzie.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://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

The full documentation for nl is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and nl programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info coreutils 'nl invocation'

should give you access to the complete manual.