[TUHS] fmt(1): history, POSIX, -t, -c

[Michael Stiller]

It is also included in 2.9BSD, or was it backported:

FMT(1)              UNIX Programmer's Manual               FMT(1)

NAME
     fmt - simple text formatter

SYNOPSIS
     fmt [ name ...  ]

DESCRIPTION
     Fmt is a simple text formatter which reads the concatenation
     of input files (or standard input if none are given) and
     produces on standard output a version of its input with
     lines as close to 72 characters long as possible.  The spac-
     ing at the beginning of the input lines is preserved in the
     output, as are blank lines and interword spacing.

     Fmt is meant to format mail messages prior to sending, but
     may also be useful for other simple tasks.

SEE ALSO
     Mail(1), nroff(1), roff(1)

AUTHOR
     Kurt Shoens

BUGS
     The program was designed to be simple and fast - for more
     complex operations, the standard text processors are likely
     to be more appropriate.



> On 29. May 2020, at 02:18, Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog at lemis.com> wrote:
> 
> On Thursday, 28 May 2020 at  9:30:09 -0400, Clem Cole wrote:
>> fmt was originally written by Kurt Shoens at UCB when he worked in Mail and
>> delivermail.
> 
> That agrees with the FreeBSD man page:
> 
> HISTORY
>     The fmt command appeared in 3BSD.
> 
>     The version described herein is a complete rewrite and appeared in
>     FreeBSD 4.4.
> 
> AUTHORS
>     Kurt Shoens
>     Liz Allen (added goal length concept)
>     Gareth McCaughan
> 
> Greg
> --
> Sent from my desktop computer.
> Finger grog at lemis.com for PGP public key.
> See complete headers for address and phone numbers.
> This message is digitally signed.  If your Microsoft mail program
> reports problems, please read http://lemis.com/broken-MUA