VIS(1) 1990 VIS(1) NNAAMMEE vis - display non-printable characters in a visual format SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS vviiss [ --nnwwccttssoobbffll ] [ --FF foldwidth ] [ file ... ] DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN _V_i_s is a filter for converting non-printable characters into a visual representation. It differs from cat -v in that the form is unique and invertible. By default, all non-graphic characters except space, tab, and newline are encoded. A detailed description of the various visual formats is given in vis(3). OOPPTTIIOONNSS -c Request a format which displays a small subset of the non-printable characters using C-style backslash sequences. -o Request a format which displays non-printable charac- ters as an octal number, \ddd. -t Tabs are also encoded. -w White space (space-tab-newline) is also encoded. -s Only characters considered unsafe to send to a terminal are encoded. This flag allows backspace, bell, and carriage return in addition to the default space, tab and newline. -f and -F Causes vviiss to fold output lines to foldwidth columns (default 80), like fold(1), except that a hidden new- line sequence is used, (which is removed when inverting the file back to its original form with unvis(1)). If the last character in the encoded file does not end in a newline, a hidden newline sequence is appended to the output. This makes the output usuable with various editors and other utilities which typically don't work with partial lines. -n Turns off any encoding, except for the fact that backslashes are still doubled and hidden newline sequences inserted if -f or -F is selected. When com- bined with the -f flag, vis becomes like an invertible version of the fold(1) utility. That is, the output can be unfolded by running the output through unvis(1). -b Turns off prepending of backslash before up-arrow con- trol sequences and Meta characters, and disables the Printed 7/27/90 June 1 VIS(1) 1990 VIS(1) doubling of backslashes. This produces output which is neither invertible or precise, but does represent a minimum of change to the input. It is similar to cat -v. -l Mark newlines with the visable sequence '\$', followed by the newline. SSEEEE AALLSSOO unvis(1) vis(3) Printed 7/27/90 June 2