nl(1)

     NAME
          nl - number lines of files

     SYNOPSIS
          nl [-h header-style] [-b body-style] [-f footer-style] [-p]
          [-d cc] [-v start-number] [-i increment] [-l lines] [-s
          line-separator] [-w line-no-width] [-n {ln,rn,rz}]
          [--header-numbering=style] [--body-numbering=style]
          [--footer-numbering=style] [--first-page=number] [--page-
          increment=number] [--no-renumber] [--join-blank-
          lines=number] [--number-separator=string] [--number-
          width=number] [--number-format={ln,rn,rz}] [--section-
          delimiter=cc] [--help] [--version] [file...]

     DESCRIPTION
          This documentation is no longer being maintained and may be
          inaccurate or incomplete.  The Texinfo documentation is now
          the authoritative source.

          This manual page documents the GNU version of nl.  nl copies
          each given file, or the standard input if none are given or
          when a file named `-' is given, to the standard output, with
          line numbers added to some or all of the lines.

          nl considers its input to be composed of logical pages; by
          default, the line number is reset to 1 at the top of each
          logical page.  nl treats all of the input files as a single
          document; it does not reset line numbers or logical pages
          between files.

          A logical page consists of three sections: header, body, and
          footer.  Any of the sections can be empty.  Each can be
          numbered in a different style from the others.

          The beginnings of the sections of logical pages are
          indicated in the input file by a line containing nothing
          except one of the delimiter strings shown below:

          \:\:\: start of header
          \:\: start of body
          \: start of footer

          The two characters from which these strings are made can be
          changed with an option (see below), but the pattern and
          length of each string cannot be changed.

          The section delimiter strings are replaced by an empty line
          on output.  Any text that comes before the first section
          delimiter string in the input file is considered to be part
          of a body section, so a file that does not contain any
          section delimiter strings is considered to consist of a
          single body section.
        OPTIONS
          -h, --header-numbering=style
               See --footer-numbering.

          -b, --body-numbering=style
               See --footer-numbering.

          -f, --footer-numbering=style
               Select the numbering style for lines in the footer
               section of each logical page.  When a line is not
               numbered, the current line number is not incremented,
               but the line number separator character is still
               prepended to the line.  The styles are:

               a    number all lines

               t    number only nonempty lines (default for body)

               n    number no lines (default for header and footer)

               pregexp
                    number only lines that contain a match for regexp

          -p, --no-renumber
               Do not reset the line number at the start of a logical
               page.

          -v, --first-page=number
               Set the initial line number on each logical page to
               number (default 1).

          -i, --page-increment=number
               Increment line numbers by number (default 1).

          -l, --join-blank-lines=number
               Consider number (default 1) consecutive empty lines to
               be one logical line for numbering, and only number the
               last one.  Where fewer than number consecutive empty
               lines occur, do not number them.  An empty line is one
               that contains no characters, not even spaces or tabs.

          -s, --number-separator=string
               Separate the line number from the text line in the
               output with string (default is a TAB character).

          -w, --number-width=number
               Use number characters for line numbers (default 6).

          -n, --number-format={ln,rn,rz}
               Select the line numbering format:

               ln   left justified, no leading zeros
               rn   right justified, no leading zeros (default)

               rz   right justified, leading zeros

          -d, --section-delimiter=cc
               Set the two delimiter characters that indicate the
               beginnings of logical page sections; if only one is
               given, the second remains ':'.  To enter '\', use '\\'.

          --help
               Print a usage message and exit with a status code
               indicating success.

          --version
               Print version information on standard output then exit.