10 May
2024
10 May
'24
8:15 a.m.
nl(1) uses the notable character sequences “\:\:\:”, “\:\:”, and “\:” to delimit header,
body, and trailer sections within its input.
I wondered if anyone was able to shed light on the reason those were adopted as the
defaults?
I would have expected perhaps something compatible with *roff (like, .\” something).
FreeBSD claims nl first appeared in System III (although it previously claimed SVR2), but
I haven’t dug into the implementation any further.
Thanks in advance,
d