Tal is a software filter that can read multiple lines from standard input.
Tal is a versatile software filter that reads in multiple lines from standard input and attempts to determine a common ending, referred to as a "trailer." This trailing character set is then aligned so that all lines begin and end at the same column of text, making it useful for aligning backslashes in C programs or repairing "broken boxes." However, tal can be employed in any situation involving a shared ending.
In particular, tal is well-suited for use as a filter in the vim text editor. A simple example is provided using C comment tags, and additional examples can be found on the examples page. The tal project offers a range of options that allow it to be customized to nearly any situation. For instance, users can specify a particular column at which the trailers should end, adjust their length, or add padding.
To learn more about tal and its options, please review the accompanying man page. If you prefer to view the man page before installation, you can use the postscript version or run the command nroff -man ./tal.1 | less to display it formatted for the command line.
Installation of tal is straightforward, as the program uses only basic C functions. Simply download the archive and extract the files using gtar xfvz tal-1.9.tar.gz. If you don't have gtar, use gunzip first and then tar, leaving out the z option. To compile tal, type "make youros," where "youros" is your operating system (if it's not on the list, try all the ones that are). After compilation, copy the binary into a directory in your PATH and the man page into section 1 of a manpage location in your MANPATH.
For MS-DOS users, a binary is available for download that is ready to use as is. Vim users may find it helpful to add a line to their .vimrc file that maps ',t' to the tal command in order to select lines using visual mode and then align their trailers.
New features in this release include the ability to disable the maxalign feature or set it to zero, updates to the manual page, editable default values in the source file, and the addition of -e and -i options for specifying trailers or ignoring case.
In particular, tal is well-suited for use as a filter in the vim text editor. A simple example is provided using C comment tags, and additional examples can be found on the examples page. The tal project offers a range of options that allow it to be customized to nearly any situation. For instance, users can specify a particular column at which the trailers should end, adjust their length, or add padding.
To learn more about tal and its options, please review the accompanying man page. If you prefer to view the man page before installation, you can use the postscript version or run the command nroff -man ./tal.1 | less to display it formatted for the command line.
Installation of tal is straightforward, as the program uses only basic C functions. Simply download the archive and extract the files using gtar xfvz tal-1.9.tar.gz. If you don't have gtar, use gunzip first and then tar, leaving out the z option. To compile tal, type "make youros," where "youros" is your operating system (if it's not on the list, try all the ones that are). After compilation, copy the binary into a directory in your PATH and the man page into section 1 of a manpage location in your MANPATH.
For MS-DOS users, a binary is available for download that is ready to use as is. Vim users may find it helpful to add a line to their .vimrc file that maps ',t' to the tal command in order to select lines using visual mode and then align their trailers.
New features in this release include the ability to disable the maxalign feature or set it to zero, updates to the manual page, editable default values in the source file, and the addition of -e and -i options for specifying trailers or ignoring case.
What's New
Version 1.9: N/A