JOT(1) BSD General Commands Manual JOT(1)NAMEjot — print sequential or random data
SYNOPSISjot [-cnr] [-b word] [-p precision] [-s string] [-w word] [reps [begin
[end [s]]]]
DESCRIPTION
The jot utility is used to print out increasing, decreasing, random, or
redundant data (usually numbers) one per line.
The following options are available:
-b word
Just print word repetitively.
-c This is an abbreviation for -w %c.
-n Do not print the final newline normally appended to the output.
-p precision
Print only as many digits or characters of the data as indicated
by the integer precision. In the absence of -p, the precision is
the greater of the precisions of begin and end. The -p option is
overridden by whatever appears in a printf(3) conversion follow‐
ing -w.
-r Generate random data instead of sequential data, the default.
-s string
Print data separated by string. Normally, newlines separate
data.
-w word
Print word with the generated data appended to it. Octal, hexa‐
decimal, exponential, ASCII, zero padded, and right-adjusted rep‐
resentations are possible by using the appropriate printf(3) con‐
version specification inside word, in which case the data are
inserted rather than appended.
The last four arguments indicate, respectively, the number of data, the
lower bound, the upper bound, and the step size or, for random data, the
seed. While at least one of them must appear, any of the other three may
be omitted, and will be considered as such if given as “-”. Any three of
these arguments determines the fourth. If four are specified and the
given and computed values of reps conflict, the lower value is used. If
fewer than three are specified, defaults are assigned left to right,
except for s, which assumes its default unless both begin and end are
given.
Defaults for the four arguments are, respectively, 100, 1, 100, and 1,
except that when random data are requested, s defaults to a seed depend‐
ing upon the time of day. reps is expected to be an unsigned integer,
and if given as zero is taken to be infinite. begin and end may be given
as real numbers or as characters representing the corresponding value in
ASCII. The last argument must be a real number.
Random numbers are obtained through random(3). The name jot derives in
part from iota, a function in APL.
EXAMPLES
The command:
jot - 42 87 1
prints the integers from 42 to 87, inclusive.
The command:
jot 21 -1 1.00
prints 21 evenly spaced numbers increasing from -1 to 1.
The command:
jot-c 128 0
prints the ASCII character set.
The command:
jot-w xa%c 26 a
prints the strings “xaa” through “xaz”.
The command:
jot-r -c 160 a z | rs -g 0 8
prints 20 random 8-letter strings.
The command:
jot-b y 0
is equivalent to yes(1).
The command:
jot-w %ds/old/new/ 30 2 - 5
prints thirty ed(1) substitution commands applying to lines 2, 7, 12,
etc.
The command:
jot 0 9 - -.5
prints the stuttering sequence 9, 8, 8, 7, etc.
The command:
jot-b x 512 > block
creates a file containing exactly 1024 bytes.
The command:
expand -`jot -s, - 10 132 4`
sets tabs four spaces apart starting from column 10 and ending in column
132.
The command:
grep `jot -s "" -b . 80`
prints all lines 80 characters or longer.
SEE ALSOed(1), expand(1), rs(1), seq(1), yes(1), printf(3), random(3)BSD January 5, 2010 BSD
