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.TH space 1 "27 January 2007" "Straylight/Edgeware"
.SH NAME
space \- check and fix whitespace in files
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B space
.RB [ \-clmtuv ]
.RB [ \-i \c
.RI [ backup ]]
.RI [ file ...]
.SH DESCRIPTION
The (low-budget)
.B space
program identifies and fixes problematic use of whitespace in text
files.  In particular, it will notice and (if you want) fix
.hP \*o
.I trailing whitespace
\(en tabs and spaces just before a newline;
.hP \*o
.I spaces before tabs
\(en which are obviously pointless;
.hP \*o
.I end-of-file in mid-line
\(en which confuses a number of programs,
.BR diff (1)
not least;
.hP \*o
.I trailing blank lines
\(en which some editors, notably Emacs, introduce by default;
.hP \*o
.I groups of spaces which could be replaced by tabs
\(en replacing them with the appropriate tab characters; or
.hP \*o
.I all tab characters
\(en replacing them with appropriate numbers of spaces.
.PP
The program is capable of fixing files in place (leaving backups if you
ask for them).
.PP
The following command-line options are recognized.
.TP
.B \-h
Give a short help message describing the options available.
.TP
.B \-c
Just check files, exiting zero if they're all OK, or 1 if there are
whitespace problems with any of them; exit 32 if there are actual
errors.  You may want the
.B \-v
option with this; without it,
.B space
is silent.
.TP
.B \-l
Check the file for trailing blank lines, i.e., lines containing only
horizontal whitespace.  With
.BR \-v ,
report if the file has trailing blank lines; without
.BR \-c ,
remove these trailing blank lines from the output.
.TP
.BR \-v
Report detailed messages about whitespace problems encountered.  Useful
with
.BR \-c ,
for example.
.TP
.BR \-i [ \fIbackup ]
Modify all the
.IR file s
in place.  During processing, the fixed copy of the file is written to
some new name not currently in use.  If the processing was successful,
the old
.I file
is renamed to
.I file "" backup
and the new file is renamed to
.IR file .
If something very complicated goes wrong at just the right moment, it's
possible that you'll be left with just
.I filebackup
but that's not very likely.  The new file is created with the same
permissions as the old file, but no attempt is made to give it the same
owner or anything like that.
.TP
.B \-m
Worry about tabs in the middle of lines as well as tabs forming the
initial indentation.  Normally, identify (and fix) tabs preceded by
spaces in the middle of lines; with
.BR \-t ,
fix all groups of whitespace which could be turned into tabs.
.TP
.B \-t
Turn runs of horizontal whitespace into tabs where possible.
With
.BR \-c ,
only complain about runs of space which could be turned into tabs but
don't actually do anything.  By default, only runs of whitespace at the
starts of lines are affected.  With
.BR \-m ,
however, all runs of whitespace are considered to be fair game.  The
rules for internal whitespace are as follows.  A run at the start of a
line, or which contains a tab is always fair game; a run of two or more
spaces is fair game
.I unless
it follows a
.RB ` . '
or
.RB ` : '
character, either immediately or separated only by
.RB ` """" '
or
.RB ` ' '
characters, in which case three spaces are required.  This is because
some typists (including the author) put two spaces after a full stop,
and don't want them randomly turning into tabs for no good reason.
.TP
.B \-u
Turn tabs into appropriate numbers of spaces.  With
.BR \-c ,
only complain about finding tabs, but don't actually do anything.  All
tabs are considered fair game here and the
.B \-m
option is ignored.
.PP
Tab stops are assumed to occur every eight columns, as is usual.
.SH BUGS
There's no way yet of controlling where the tab stops are.
.PP
This space program doesn't even attempt moon landings.  The space man
page doesn't have wiggly antennae.
.PP
The jokes in the man page are somewhat lame.
.SH AUTHOR
Mark Wooding, <mdw@distorted.org.uk>