EXPAND(1) User Commands 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 posi-
tion 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: bug-coreutils@gnu.org
GNU coreutils home page:
General help using GNU software:
Report any translation bugs to
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL
version 3 or later .
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There
is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
SEE ALSO
unexpand(1)
Full documentation
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) expand invocation'
GNU coreutils 9.11 April 2026 EXPAND(1)