.\" DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE!  It was generated by help2man 1.50.1.
.TH NL "1" "October 2026" "GNU coreutils 9.12" "User Commands"
.SH NAME
nl \- number lines of files
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B nl
[\fI\,OPTION\/\fR]... [\fI\,FILE\/\fR]...
.SH DESCRIPTION
.\" Add any additional description here
.PP
Write each FILE to standard output, with line numbers added.
.PP
With no FILE, or when FILE is \-, read standard input.
.PP
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#nl-b'\fB\-b, \-\-body\-numbering=\,STYLE\fP\X'tty: link'\/\fR
use STYLE for numbering body lines
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#nl-d'\fB\-d, \-\-section\-delimiter=\,CC\fP\X'tty: link'\/\fR
use CC for logical page delimiters
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#nl-f'\fB\-f, \-\-footer\-numbering=\,STYLE\fP\X'tty: link'\/\fR
use STYLE for numbering footer lines
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#nl-h'\fB\-h, \-\-header\-numbering=\,STYLE\fP\X'tty: link'\/\fR
use STYLE for numbering header lines
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#nl-i'\fB\-i, \-\-line\-increment=\,NUMBER\fP\X'tty: link'\/\fR
line number increment at each line
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#nl-l'\fB\-l, \-\-join\-blank\-lines=\,NUMBER\fP\X'tty: link'\/\fR
group of NUMBER empty lines counted as one
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#nl-n'\fB\-n, \-\-number\-format=\,FORMAT\fP\X'tty: link'\/\fR
insert line numbers according to FORMAT
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#nl-p'\fB\-p, \-\-no\-renumber\fP\X'tty: link'
do not reset line numbers for each section
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#nl-s'\fB\-s, \-\-number\-separator=\,STRING\fP\X'tty: link'\/\fR
add STRING after (possible) line number
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#nl-v'\fB\-v, \-\-starting\-line\-number=\,NUMBER\fP\X'tty: link'\/\fR
first line number for each section
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#nl-w'\fB\-w, \-\-number\-width=\,NUMBER\fP\X'tty: link'\/\fR
use NUMBER columns for line numbers
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/nl#nl--help'\fB\-\-help\fP\X'tty: link'
display this help and exit
.TP
\X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/nl#nl--version'\fB\-\-version\fP\X'tty: link'
output version information and exit
.PP
Default options are: \fB\-bt\fR \fB\-d\fR'\e:' \fB\-fn\fR \fB\-hn\fR \fB\-i1\fR \fB\-l1\fR \fB\-n\fR'rn' \fB\-s\fR<TAB> \fB\-v1\fR \fB\-w6\fR
.PP
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 (\fB\-d\fR '')
disables section matching.
.PP
STYLE is one of:
.PP
.PD 0
.TP 7
a
number all lines
.TP 7
t
number only nonempty lines
.TP 7
n
number no lines
.TP 7
pBRE
number only lines that contain a match for the basic regular
expression, BRE
.PD
.PP
FORMAT is one of:
.PP
.PD 0
.TP 7
ln
left justified, no leading zeros
.TP 7
rn
right justified, no leading zeros
.TP 7
rz
right justified, leading zeros
.PD
.SH AUTHOR
Written by Scott Bartram and David MacKenzie.
.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
Report bugs to: <bug\-coreutils@gnu.org>.
.br
Report any translation bugs to: <https://translationproject.org/team/>.
.br
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
.br
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright \(co 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
.br
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/nl>
.br
or available locally via: info \(aq(coreutils) nl invocation\(aq