Linux unexpand Guide

Complete beginner-friendly guide to unexpand on Linux, covering Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other distributions including converting spaces to tabs, text formatting, and whitespace conversion.

---

Table of Contents

1. unexpand Basics
2. Space to Tab Conversion
3. Tab Stops
4. File Processing
5. Troubleshooting

---

unexpand Basics

Convert Spaces

Basic usage:

# Convert spaces to tabs
unexpand file.txt

# Converts leading spaces to tabs

Default Behavior

Leading spaces:

# Only leading spaces
unexpand file.txt

# Converts leading spaces to tabs

---

Space to Tab Conversion

All Spaces

Convert all:

# Convert all spaces
unexpand -a file.txt

# -a = all (converts all spaces)

Leading Only

Default (leading):

# Leading spaces only (default)
unexpand file.txt

# Only converts leading spaces

---

Tab Stops

Custom Tab Stops

Set tab width:

# Custom tab stops
unexpand -t 4 file.txt

# -t = tabs (4 spaces per tab)

Multiple Stops

Multiple stops:

# Multiple tab stops
unexpand -t 4,8,12 file.txt

# Tab stops at columns 4, 8, 12

---

File Processing

In Place

Modify file:

# In place (GNU extension)
unexpand -a file.txt > file.txt.tmp
mv file.txt.tmp file.txt

# Or use sponge (from moreutils)
unexpand -a file.txt | sponge file.txt

Output to File

Save to file:

# Output to file
unexpand -a file.txt > output.txt

# Saves converted file

---

Troubleshooting

unexpand Not Found

Check installation:

# unexpand is part of coreutils
# Usually pre-installed

# Check unexpand
which unexpand

---

Summary

This guide covered unexpand usage, space-to-tab conversion, and text formatting for Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other distributions.

---

Next Steps

• expand Guide - Convert tabs to spaces
• sed Guide - Text processing
• Text Processing - Text manipulation
• unexpand Documentation: man unexpand

---

This guide covers Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other Linux distributions. For distribution-specific details, refer to your distribution's documentation.