tldr/pages/linux/nl.md

nl

Number lines from a file or from stdin. More information: https://manned.org/nl.1p.

• Number non-blank lines in a file:

nl {{path/to/file}}

• Read from stdin:

{{command}} | nl -

• Number [a]ll [b]ody lines including blank lines or do not [n]umber [b]ody lines:

nl --body-numbering {{a|n}} {{path/to/file}}

• Number only the [b]ody lines that match a basic regular expression (BRE) [p]attern:

nl --body-numbering p'FooBar[0-9]' {{path/to/file}}

• Use a specific [i]ncrement for line numbering:

nl --line-increment {{increment}} {{path/to/file}}

• Specify the line numbering format to [r]ight or [l]eft justified, keeping leading [z]eros or [n]ot:

nl --number-format {{rz|ln|rn}}

• Specify the line numbering's width (6 by default):

nl --number-width {{col_width}} {{path/to/file}}

• Use a specific string to separate the line numbers from the lines (TAB by default):

nl --number-separator {{separator}} {{path/to/file}}