asa(1)

NAME

asa — interpret ASA carriage control characters

SYNOPSIS

asa [files]

DESCRIPTION

asa interprets the output of FORTRAN programs that utilize ASA carriage control characters. It processes either the files whose names are given as arguments, or the standard input if - is specified or if no file names are given. The first character of each line is assumed to be a control character. The following control characters are interpreted as indicated:

(blank): Output a single new-line character before printing.
(space): (XPG4 only.) The rest of the line will be output without change.
0: Output two new-line characters before printing.
0: (XPG4 only.) A <newline> shall be output, then the rest of the input line.
1: Output a new-page character before printing.
+: Overprint previous line.
+: (XPG4 only.) The <newline> of the previous line shall be replaced with one or more implementaions-defined characters that causes printing to return to column position 1, followed by the rest of the input line. If the + is the first character in the input, it shall have the same effect as <space>.

Lines beginning with other than the above characters are treated the same as lines beginning with a blank. The first character of a line is not printed. If any such lines appear, an appropriate diagnostic is sent to standard error. This program forces the first line of each input file to start on a new page.

(XPG4 only.) The action of the asa utility is unspecified upon encountering any character other than those listed above as the first character in a line.

To view the output of FORTRAN programs which use ASA carriage control characters and have them appear in normal form, asa can be used as a filter:

a.out | asa | lp 

The output, properly formatted and paginated, is then directed to the line printer. FORTRAN output previously sent to a file can be viewed on a user terminal screen by using:

asa file

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES

Environment Variables

LC_CTYPE determines the interpretation of text within file as single- and/or multi-byte characters.

LC_MESSAGES determines the language in which messages are displayed.

If LC_CTYPE or LC_MESSAGES is not specified in the environment or is set to the empty string, the value of LANG is used as a default for each unspecified or empty variable. If LANG is not specified or is set to the empty string, a default of "C" (see lang(5)) is used instead of LANG.

If any internationalization variable contains an invalid setting, asa behaves as if all internationalization variables are set to "C". See environ(5).

International Code Set Support

Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported.

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE

asa: XPG4, POSIX.2

asa(1)

Technical documentation

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