| -b--body-numbering | use STYLE for numbering body lines |
| -d--section-delimiter | use CC for logical page delimiters |
| -f--footer-numbering | use STYLE for numbering footer lines |
| -h--header-numbering | use STYLE for numbering header lines |
| -i--line-increment | line number increment at each line |
| -l--join-blank-lines | group of NUMBER empty lines counted as one |
| -n--number-format | insert line numbers according to FORMAT |
| -p--no-renumber | do not reset line numbers for each section |
| -s--number-separator | add STRING after (possible) line number |
| -v--starting-line-number | first line number for each section |
| -w--number-width | use NUMBER columns for line numbers |
| --help | display this help and exit |
| --version | output version information and exit |
| 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 |
| ln | left justified, no leading zeros |
| rn | right justified, no leading zeros |
| rz | right justified, leading zeros |
NAME
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.