fold(1)

fold1

Wrap each input line to fit in specified width

Usage

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

Overview

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

Releases

19 releases since Debian 1.1 (Buzz); the text changed 15 times.

  1. 1.1
  2. 1.2–2.1
  3. 2.2
  4. 3.0
  5. 3.1
  6. 4.0
  7. 5.0
  8. 6.0
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. Arch

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

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/>

From coreutils 9.12-2 in Arch Linux 2026-11-01. Parsed by carta from the page's man source.