expand(1)

NAME

expand - convert tabs to spaces

SYNOPSIS

expand [OPTION]... [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION

Convert tabs in each FILE to spaces, writing to standard output.

With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

-i, --initial: do not convert tabs after non blanks

-t, --tabs=N: have tabs N characters apart, not 8

-t, --tabs=LIST: use comma separated list of tab positions. The last specified position can be prefixed with '/' to specify a tab size to use after the last explicitly specified tab stop. Also a prefix of '+' can be used to align remaining tab stops relative to the last specified tab stop instead of the first column

--help: display this help and exit

--version: output version information and exit

AUTHOR

Written by David MacKenzie.

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to: <[email protected]>.
Report any translation bugs to: <https://translationproject.org/team/>.
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.