---
name: "adjust"
section: "3tcl"
platform: "linux"
package: "tcllib"
version: "2.0+dfsg-4"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/adjust"
---

# adjust(3tcl)

Procedures to adjust, indent, and undent paragraphs

```

```

## NAME

textutil::adjust - Procedures to adjust, indent, and undent paragraphs

## SYNOPSIS

package require **Tcl 8.5 9**

package require **textutil::adjust ?0.7.4?**

**::textutil::adjust::adjust** *string* ?*option value...*?

**::textutil::adjust::readPatterns** *filename*

**::textutil::adjust::listPredefined**

**::textutil::adjust::getPredefined** *filename*

**::textutil::adjust::indent** *string* *prefix* ?*skip*?

**::textutil::adjust::undent** *string*

```

```

## DESCRIPTION

The package **textutil::adjust** provides commands that manipulate strings or texts (a.k.a. long strings or string with embedded newlines or paragraphs), adjusting, or indenting them.

The complete set of procedures is described below.

- **::textutil::adjust::adjust** *string* ?*option value...*?

  Do a justification on the *string* according to the options.  The string is taken as one big paragraph, ignoring any newlines.  Then the line is formatted according to the options used, and the command returns a new string with enough lines to contain all the printable chars in the input string. A line is a set of characters between the beginning of the string and a newline, or between 2 newlines, or between a newline and the end of the string. If the input string is small enough, the returned string won't contain any newlines.

  Together with **::textutil::adjust::indent** it is possible to create properly wrapped paragraphs with arbitrary indentations.

  By default, any occurrence of space or tabulation characters are replaced by a single space so that each word in a line is separated from the next one by exactly one space character, and this forms a *real* line. Each *real* line is placed in a *logical* line, which has exactly a given length (see the option **-length** below). The *real* line may be shorter. Again by default, trailing spaces are ignored before returning the string (see the option **-full** below).

  The following options may be used after the *string* parameter, and change the way the command places a *real* line in a *logical* line.

  - **-full** *boolean*

    If set to **false** (default), trailing space characters are deleted before returning the string. If set to **true**, any trailing space characters are left in the string.

  - **-hyphenate** *boolean*

    If set to **false** (default), no hyphenation will be done. If set to **true**, the command will try to hyphenate the last word of a line. *Note*: Hyphenation patterns must be loaded prior, using the command **::textutil::adjust::readPatterns**.

  - **-justify** **center\|left\|plain\|right**

    Sets the justification of the returned string to either **left** (default), **center**, **plain** or **right**. The justification means that any line in the returned string but the last one is build according to the value. If the justification is set to **plain** and the number of printable chars in the last line is less than 90% of the length of a line (see the option **-length**), then this line is justified with the **left** value, avoiding the expansion of this line when it is too small. The meaning of each value is:

    - **center**

      The real line is centered in the logical line. If needed, a set of space characters are added at the beginning (half of the needed set) and at the end (half of the needed set) of the line if required (see the option **-full**).

    - **left**

      The real line is set on the left of the logical line. It means that there are no space chars at the beginning of this line. If required, all needed space chars are added at the end of the line (see the option **-full**).

    - **plain**

      The real line is exactly set in the logical line. It means that there are no leading or trailing space chars. All the needed space chars are added in the *real* line, between 2 (or more) words.

    - **right**

      The real line is set on the right of the logical line. It means that there are no space chars at the end of this line, and there may be some space chars at the beginning, despite of the **-full** option.

  - **-length** *integer*

    Set the length of the *logical* line in the string to *integer*.  *integer* must be a positive integer value. Defaults to **72**.

  - **-strictlength** *boolean*

    If set to **false** (default), a line can exceed the specified **-length** if a single word is longer than **-length**. If set to **true**, words that are longer than **-length** are split so that no line exceeds the specified **-length**.

- **::textutil::adjust::readPatterns** *filename*

  Loads the internal storage for hyphenation patterns with the contents of the file *filename*. This has to be done prior to calling command **::textutil::adjust::adjust** with "**-hyphenate** **true**", or the hyphenation process will not work correctly.

  The package comes with a number of predefined pattern files, and the command **::textutil::adjust::listPredefined** can be used to find out their names.

- **::textutil::adjust::listPredefined**

  This command returns a list containing the names of the hyphenation files coming with this package.

- **::textutil::adjust::getPredefined** *filename*

  Use this command to query the package for the full path name of the hyphenation file *filename* coming with the package. Only the filenames found in the list returned by **::textutil::adjust::listPredefined** are legal arguments for this command.

- **::textutil::adjust::indent** *string* *prefix* ?*skip*?

  Each line in the *string* is indented by adding the string *prefix* at its beginning. The modified string is returned as the result of the command.

  If *skip* is specified the first *skip* lines are left untouched. The default for *skip* is **0**, causing the modification of all lines. Negative values for *skip* are treated like **0**. In other words, *skip* \> **0** creates a hanging indentation.

  Together with **::textutil::adjust::adjust** it is possible to create properly wrapped paragraphs with arbitrary indentations.

- **::textutil::adjust::undent** *string*

  The command computes the common prefix for all lines in *string* consisting solely out of whitespace, removes this from each line and returns the modified string.

  Lines containing only whitespace are always reduced to completely empty lines. They and empty lines are also ignored when computing the prefix to remove.

  Together with **::textutil::adjust::adjust** it is possible to create properly wrapped paragraphs with arbitrary indentations.

## BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK

This document, and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain bugs and other problems. Please report such in the category *textutil* of the *Tcllib Trackers* \[http://core.tcl.tk/tcllib/reportlist\]. Please also report any ideas for enhancements you may have for either package and/or documentation.

When proposing code changes, please provide *unified diffs*, i.e the output of **diff -u**.

Note further that *attachments* are strongly preferred over inlined patches. Attachments can be made by going to the **Edit** form of the ticket immediately after its creation, and then using the left-most button in the secondary navigation bar.

## SEE ALSO

[regexp(3tcl)](/regexp/3tcl.md), [split(3tcl)](/split/3tcl.md), [string(3tcl)](/string/3tcl.md)

## KEYWORDS

TeX, adjusting, formatting, hyphenation, indenting, justification, paragraph, string, undenting

## CATEGORY

Text processing