Reference

fold(1)

wrap each input line to fit in specified width

NAME

fold - wrap each input line to fit in specified width

SYNOPSIS

fold [OPTION]... [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION

Wrap input lines in each FILE, 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.

-b, --bytes

count bytes rather than columns

-c, --characters

count characters rather than columns

-s, --spaces

break after blanks, or in words greater than WIDTH

-w, --width=WIDTH

use WIDTH columns instead of 80

--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.

SEE ALSO

fmt(1)

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/fold>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) fold invocation'

History

--characters since Arch Linux 2026-11-01; -c since Arch Linux 2026-11-01.