Fold

14 Sep 2018

2018-09-14

Today I learned about the command fold. This command is used to wrap the input into a maximum number of columns. See the following examples to better understand:

No fold

echo "Bacon ipsum dolor amet tri-tip porchetta flank pork loin andouille shoulder chicken sirloin shankle. T-bone hamburger turkey rump boudin ham hock corned beef. Porchetta rump tenderloin shank, meatloaf meatball capicola jowl prosciutto landjaeger brisket alcatra short ribs bacon. Chicken filet mignon biltong shoulder."
Bacon ipsum dolor amet tri-tip porchetta flank pork loin andouille shoulder chicken sirloin shankle. T-bone hamburger turkey rump boudin ham hock corned beef. Porchetta rump tenderloin shank, meatloaf meatball capicola jowl prosciutto landjaeger brisket alcatra short ribs bacon. Chicken filet mignon biltong shoulder.

fold with default 80 columns

echo "Bacon ipsum dolor amet tri-tip porchetta flank pork loin andouille shoulder chicken sirloin shankle. T-bone hamburger turkey rump boudin ham hock corned beef. Porchetta rump tenderloin shank, meatloaf meatball capicola jowl prosciutto landjaeger brisket alcatra short ribs bacon. Chicken filet mignon biltong shoulder." | fold
Bacon ipsum dolor amet tri-tip porchetta flank pork loin andouille shoulder chic
ken sirloin shankle. T-bone hamburger turkey rump boudin ham hock corned beef. P
orchetta rump tenderloin shank, meatloaf meatball capicola jowl prosciutto landj
aeger brisket alcatra short ribs bacon. Chicken filet mignon biltong shoulder.

fold with 160 columns

echo "Bacon ipsum dolor amet tri-tip porchetta flank pork loin andouille shoulder chicken sirloin shankle. T-bone hamburger turkey rump boudin ham hock corned beef. Porchetta rump tenderloin shank, meatloaf meatball capicola jowl prosciutto landjaeger brisket alcatra short ribs bacon. Chicken filet mignon biltong shoulder." | fold -w 160
Bacon ipsum dolor amet tri-tip porchetta flank pork loin andouille shoulder chicken sirloin shankle. T-bone hamburger turkey rump boudin ham hock corned beef. P
orchetta rump tenderloin shank, meatloaf meatball capicola jowl prosciutto landjaeger brisket alcatra short ribs bacon. Chicken filet mignon biltong shoulder.

It could be really useful when you want to quickly format a logfile containing very long lines… It never hurts to learn something new.