The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7
IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition
Copyright © 2001-2013 The IEEE and The Open Group

#### NAME

> asa - interpret carriage-control characters

#### SYNOPSIS

> ``[FR] asa` [file`...`]```

#### DESCRIPTION

> The asa utility shall write its input files to standard output, mapping carriage-control characters from the text files to line-printer control sequences in an implementation-defined manner.

> The first character of every line shall be removed from the input, and the following actions are performed.

> If the character removed is:

> <space>
>   The rest of the line is output without change.
> 0
>   A <newline> is output, then the rest of the input line.
> 1
>   One or more implementation-defined characters that causes an advance to the next page shall be output, followed by the rest of the input line.
> `+`
>   The <newline> of the previous line shall be replaced with one or more implementation-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 be equivalent to <space>.

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

#### OPTIONS

> None.

#### OPERANDS

> file
>   A pathname of a text file used for input. If no file operands are specified, the standard input shall be used.

#### STDIN

> The standard input shall be used if no file operands are specified, and shall be used if a file operand is `'-'` and the implementation treats the `'-'` as meaning standard input. Otherwise, the standard input shall not be used. See the INPUT FILES section.

#### INPUT FILES

> The input files shall be text files.

#### ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

> The following environment variables shall affect the execution of asa:

> LANG
>   Provide a default value for the internationalization variables that are unset or null. (See XBD Internationalization Variables for the precedence of internationalization variables used to determine the values of locale categories.)
> LC_ALL
>   If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all the other internationalization variables.
> LC_CTYPE
>   Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments and input files).
> LC_MESSAGES
>   Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.
> NLSPATH
>   [XSI] Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of LC_MESSAGES.

#### ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS

> Default.

#### STDOUT

> The standard output shall be the text from the input file modified as described in the DESCRIPTION section.

#### STDERR

> None.

#### OUTPUT FILES

> None.

#### EXTENDED DESCRIPTION

> None.

#### EXIT STATUS

> The following exit values shall be returned:

> 0
>   All input files were output successfully.
> >0
>   An error occurred.

#### CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS

> Default.

The following sections are informative.

#### APPLICATION USAGE

> None.

#### EXAMPLES

> 1. The following command:

>        asa file

>    permits the viewing of file (created by a program using FORTRAN-style carriage-control characters) on a terminal.

> 2. The following command:

>        a.out | asa | lp

>    formats the FORTRAN output of a.out and directs it to the printer.

#### RATIONALE

> The asa utility is needed to map "standard" FORTRAN 77 output into a form acceptable to contemporary printers. Usually, asa is used to pipe data to the lp utility; see lp.

> This utility is generally used only by FORTRAN programs. The standard developers decided to retain asa to avoid breaking the historical large base of FORTRAN applications that put carriage-control characters in their output files. There is no requirement that a system have a FORTRAN compiler in order to run applications that need asa.

> Historical implementations have used an ASCII <form-feed> in response to a 1 and an ASCII <carriage-return> in response to a `'+'`. It is suggested that implementations treat characters other than 0, 1, and `'+'` as <space> in the absence of any compelling reason to do otherwise. However, the action is listed here as "unspecified", permitting an implementation to provide extensions to access fast multiple-line slewing and channel seeking in a non-portable manner.

#### FUTURE DIRECTIONS

> None.

#### SEE ALSO

> fort77, lp

> XBD Environment Variables

#### CHANGE HISTORY

> First released in Issue 4.

#### Issue 6

> This utility is marked as part of the FORTRAN Runtime Utilities option.

> The normative text is reworded to avoid use of the term "must" for application requirements.

#### Issue 7

> Austin Group Interpretation 1003.1-2001 #092 is applied.

> SD5-XCU-ERN-97 is applied, updating the SYNOPSIS.

End of informative text.

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