Preparing to Print with pr
Although old-fashioned line printers—those obnoxiously loud ones that clatter out character by character, or the dot-matrix printers that zing out line after line—aren’t terribly easy to find anymore, the pr command is finding new life in the age of the Internet.
Why? Well, nothing says email as quickly, easily, effectively, and safely as plain text. Plain text attaches no viruses. Plain text works in every email system, including handheld computers, and the like. Plain text works great—often better than a word processor— for one-off messages, pages, and short documents that just don’t merit firing up a full-blown word processor. Code Listing 6.22 shows an example of text processed with pr.
To Process with pr:
pr spiderstory.formatted
Turn pr loose, and you’ll be the talk of the town.
✓ Tips
Two utilities that work great together are fmt and pr. See Code Listing 6.22 to see what fmt -w 30 spiderstory. unformatted | pr -2 will do for you.
Use the –n and –d flags if you’re printing something that will be reviewed by others. Using these flags, you get line numbers and double-spacing, which will make the review process easier.
Add in a –T flag so the output doesn’t even pretend to be appropriate for a printer— there are no headers or footers or other pagination for actual printed output.
Code Listing 6.22. The pr utility can help you get your output spiffed up, even if you aren’t printing it.
[jdoe@frazz jdoe]$ pr spiderstory.formatted 2003-01-01 12: spiderstory.formatted Page 1 This morning I got up, went downstairs, and found a HUMONGOUS spider in the bathroom where the little potty is. After I quietly composed myself from the shock (I didn't want to alert the kids), I looked around the house for something to put him in...the kids' bug catcher thing (nowhere to be found)...a jar...tupperware...a lidded cup...the salad spinner (BwaaaaHaaaHaaa!).... I went back and checked on the spider and decided that I just couldn't face putting him in something. I mean, what if he got close to me...or TOUCHED me?!?! And, since I hate the crunching sound and feel of squashing bugs, I knew I couldn't just kill him. This spider had *bones*, I'm tellin' ya'. So, I hunted for bug spray. And hunted. But nothing. [jdoe@frazz jdoe]$ fmt -u -w 30 spiderstory.unformatted | pr—columns=2 2003-01-01 12:59 Page 1 This morning I got up, (BwaaaaHaaaHaaa!).... went downstairs, and found I went back and checked on a HUMONGOUS spider in the the spider and decided that bathroom where the little I just couldn't face putting potty is. After I quietly him in something. I mean, composed myself from the what if he got close to shock (I didn't want to alert me...or TOUCHED me?!?! And the kids), since I hate the crunching sound and feel of squashing I looked around the house for bugs, I knew I couldn't just something to put him in...the kill him. This spider had kids' bug catcher thing *bones*, I'm tellin' ya'. So, (nowhere to be found)...a I hunted for bug spray. jar...tupperware...a lidded And hunted. But nothing. cup...the salad spinner |