tldr/pages/linux/nl.md

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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}}