UNEXPAND(1) General Commands Manual UNEXPAND(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

unexpand - Convert blanks in each FILE to tabs, writing to standard output. With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**unexpand** \[OPTION]... \[FILE]...

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

Convert blanks in each FILE to tabs, writing to standard output. With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

[**-a**, **--all**](#a)

convert all blanks, instead of just initial blanks

[**-f**, **--first-only**](#f)

convert only leading sequences of blanks (overrides -a)

[**-t**, **--tabs** *<N, LIST>*](#t)

use comma separated LIST of tab positions or have tabs N characters apart instead of 8 (enables -a)

[**-U**, **--no-utf8**](#U)

interpret input file as 8-bit ASCII rather than UTF-8

[**-h**, **--help**](#h)

Print help

[**-V**, **--version**](#V)

Print version

# [VERSION](#VERSION)

v(uutils coreutils) 0.12.0

2026-10-16

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Document: unexpand(1) from uutils 0.12.0-r4 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/uutils/coreutils