.so tmac.ilib
.TH DELAM 1 "The University of Arizona \- 8/15/84"
.SH NAME
delam \- delaminate a file using column positions
.SH SYNOPSIS
\f3delam\fP fieldlist {infile | \-} {outputfile | \-}...
.SH DESCRIPTION
\fIDelam\fR delaminates an input file into several output files
according to the fields specified by \f3fieldlist\fR.
\fIDelam\fR reads \f3infile\fR and writes the fields in each line to the
corresponding output files as individual lines. If no data occurs in
the specified position for a given input line an empty output line is
written. This insures that all output files contain the same number of
lines as the input file.
.PP
If `\-' is used for \f3infile\fR, the standard input is read.
If `\-' is used as an output file name, the corresponding field
is written to the standard output.
.PP
The fields are defined by \f3fieldlist\fR, which is a list of field
specifications, separated by commas, colons, or semicolons, of the
following form:
.DS
.ft I
n		\fRthe character in column \fIn
n\-m		\fRthe characters in columns \fIn\fR through \fIm
n+m		m \fRcharacters beginning at column \fIn
.ft R
.DE
where the columns in a line are numbered from 1 to the length of the
line.
.PP
The use of \fIdelam\fR is illustrated by the following examples.
.DS
delam 1\-10,5 foo x y
.DE
reads file \fIfoo\fR and writes characters 1 through 10 to file \fIx\fR and
character 5 to file \fIy\fR.
.DS
delam 10+5:1\-10:1\-10:80 \- middle left1 left2 end
.DE
reads the standard input and writes characters 10 through 14 to
\fImiddle\fR, 1 through 10 to \fIleft1\fR and \fIleft2\fR, and character 80 to
\fIend\fR.
.DS
delam 1\-80;1\-80 \- \- \-
.DE
copies the standard input to the standard output, replicating the
first eighty columns of each line twice.
.SH NOTES
The functionality of the Software Tools \fIdelam\fR has
been divided. The Icon version of \fIdelam\fR uses an extended fieldlist
syntax. 
.SH SEE ALSO
lam(1),
delamc(1)
.LP
.St
.SH AUTHOR
Thomas R. Hicks