nl - number lines of files
SYNOPSIS
nl [OPTION]... [FILE]...
DESCRIPTION
Write each FILE to standard output, with line numbers added.
With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
-b, --body-numbering=STYLE
use STYLE for numbering body lines
-d, --section-delimiter=CC
use CC for logical page delimiters
-f, --footer-numbering=STYLE
use STYLE for numbering footer lines
-h, --header-numbering=STYLE
use STYLE for numbering header lines
-i, --line-increment=NUMBER
line number increment at each line
-l, --join-blank-lines=NUMBER
group of NUMBER empty lines counted as one
-n, --number-format=FORMAT
insert line numbers according to FORMAT
-p, --no-renumber
do not reset line numbers for each section
-s, --number-separator=STRING
add STRING after (possible) line number
-v, --starting-line-number=NUMBER
first line number for each section
-w, --number-width=NUMBER
use NUMBER columns for line numbers
--help display this help and exit
--version
output version information and exit
Default options are: -bt -d'\:' -fn -hn -i1 -l1 -n'rn' -s<TAB> -v1 -w6
CC are two delimiter characters used to construct logical page delimiters; a missing second character implies ':'. As a GNU extension one can specify more than two characters, and also specifying the empty string (-d '') disables section matching.
STYLE is one of:
a number all lines
t number only nonempty lines
n number no lines
pBRE number only lines that contain a match for the basic regular expression, BRE
FORMAT is one of:
ln left justified, no leading zeros
rn right justified, no leading zeros
rz right justified, leading zeros
AUTHOR
Written by Scott Bartram and David MacKenzie.
REPORTING BUGS
GNU coreutils online help: [https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/] Report any translation bugs to [https://translationproject.org/team/]
SEE ALSO
Full documentation [https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/nl] or available locally via: info '(coreutils) nl invocation'
Packaged by Debian (9.7-3) Copyright © 2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later [https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html]. This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.