Subject: bug#47243: pr lacks -p

From: Stan Marsh <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2025 10:06:31 -0600

Paul wrote:

>Then    Pádraig Brady wrote:
>>Reading POSIX more closely I see there is also pause logic for the first page
>>only:
>>  -f    [XSI] [Option Start] Use a <form-feed> for new pages, instead of the 
-------------------------------^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ (!)
>>default
>>behavior that uses a sequence of <newline> characters.
>>        Pause before beginning the first page if the standard output is
>>associated with a terminal. [Option End]

>> How can it be both?

Then Paul wrote:

>If neither -p nor -f is specified, pr doesn't pause.

>If -p is specified, pr pauses before every output page, regardless of whether -f is
>also specified.

>If -f but not -p is specified, pr pauses only before the first output page.

I think there is a misunderstanding here.

The point is that -f is already taken; it is a synonym for -F.

So, it can't be re-purposed to mean: pause only before the first output page,
without breaking any script or human who depends on it meaning: use form feeds.

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