From: Jim Meyering <jim@meyering.net>
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1999 08:03:49 +0000 (+0000)
Subject: wc vs. POSIXLY_CORRECT
X-Git-Tag: TEXTUTILS-1_22n~15
X-Git-Url: http://git.ipfire.org/gitweb.cgi?a=commitdiff_plain;h=35c14d81cf768669b82c1ef77ed24e17daedee40;p=thirdparty%2Fcoreutils.git

wc vs. POSIXLY_CORRECT
---

diff --git a/doc/textutils.texi b/doc/textutils.texi
index 9e25362c1e..95c7b238a8 100644
--- a/doc/textutils.texi
+++ b/doc/textutils.texi
@@ -1799,6 +1799,11 @@ given as an argument, it prints the file name following the counts.  If
 more than one @var{file} is given, @code{wc} prints a final line
 containing the cumulative counts, with the file name @file{total}.  The
 counts are printed in this order: newlines, words, bytes.
+By default, each count is output right-justified in a 7-byte field with
+one space between fields so that the numbers and file names line up nicely
+in columns.  However, POSIX requires that there be exactly one space
+separating columns.  You can make @code{wc} use the POSIX-mandated
+output format by setting the @env{POSIXLY_CORRECT} environment variable.
 
 By default, @code{wc} prints all three counts.  Options can specify
 that only certain counts be printed.  Options do not undo others