| RS(1) | General Commands Manual | RS(1) | 
rs —
| rs | [ -CcSs[x]]
      [-GgKkwN]
      [-EeHhjmnTty] [rows
      [cols]] | 
rs reads the standard input, interpreting each line as a
  row of blank-separated entries in an array, transforms the array according to
  the options, and writes it on the standard output. With no arguments it
  transforms stream input into a columnar format convenient for terminal
  viewing.
The shape of the input array is deduced from the number of lines
    and the number of columns on the first line. If that shape is inconvenient,
    a more useful one might be obtained by skipping some of the input with the
    -k option. Other options control interpretation of
    the input columns.
The shape of the output array is influenced by the
    rows and cols specifications,
    which should be positive integers. If only one of them is a positive
    integer, rs computes a value for the other which
    will accommodate all of the data. When necessary, missing data are supplied
    in a manner specified by the options and surplus data are deleted. There are
    options to control presentation of the output columns, including
    transposition of the rows and columns.
The options are described below.
-C
    [x]-c
    [x]-e-G
    N-g
    N-H-h, but also print the length of each
    line.-h-j-K
    N-k, but print the ignored lines.-k
    N-m-n-S
    [x]-C, but padded strings of
      x are delimiters.-s
    [x]-c, but maximal strings of
      x are delimiters.-T-t-w
    N-y-zWith no arguments, rs transposes its
    input, and assumes one array entry per input line unless the first
    non-ignored line is longer than the display width. Option letters which take
    numerical arguments interpret a missing number as zero unless otherwise
    indicated.
rs can be used as a filter to convert the stream output
  of certain programs (e.g.,
  spell(1),
  du(1),
  file(1),
  look(1),
  nm(1),
  who(1), and
  wc(1)) into a convenient
  “window” format, as in
who | rsThis function has been incorporated into the
    ls(1) program, though for most
    programs with similar output rs suffices.
To convert stream input into vector output and back again, use
rs 1 0 | rs 0 1jot -r 100 | rs 10 10 | tee array |
  rs -T > tarrayIn the editor vi(1), a file consisting of a multi-line vector with 9 elements per line can undergo insertions and deletions, and then be neatly reshaped into 9 columns with
:1,$!rs 0 9Finally, to sort a database by the first line of each 4-line field, try
rs -eC 0 4 | sort | rs -c 0
  1rs utility first appeared in
  4.2BSD.
The algorithm currently reads the whole file into memory, so files that do not fit in memory will not be reshaped.
Fields cannot be defined yet on character positions.
Re-ordering of columns is not yet possible.
There are too many options.
| January 1, 2016 | NetBSD 10.1 |