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    Command Linux
    Home - man page - TR

    TR

    WillieBy WillieApril 8, 2026Updated:April 8, 2026No Comments2 Mins Read
     

    NAME

    tr – translate or delete characters  

    SYNOPSIS

    tr [OPTION]… SET1 [SET2]  

    DESCRIPTION

    Translate, squeeze, and/or delete characters from standard input, writing to standard output.

    -c, -C, –complement
    use the complement of SET1
    -d, –delete
    delete characters in SET1, do not translate
    -s, –squeeze-repeats
    replace each input sequence of a repeated character that is listed in SET1 with a single occurrence of that character
    -t, –truncate-set1
    first truncate SET1 to length of SET2
    –help
    display this help and exit
    –version
    output version information and exit

    SETs are specified as strings of characters. Most represent themselves. Interpreted sequences are:

    \NNN
    character with octal value NNN (1 to 3 octal digits)
    \\
    backslash
    \a
    audible BEL
    \b
    backspace
    \f
    form feed
    \n
    new line
    \r
    return
    \t
    horizontal tab
    \v
    vertical tab
    CHAR1-CHAR2
    all characters from CHAR1 to CHAR2 in ascending order
    [CHAR*]
    in SET2, copies of CHAR until length of SET1
    [CHAR*REPEAT]
    REPEAT copies of CHAR, REPEAT octal if starting with 0
    [:alnum:]
    all letters and digits
    [:alpha:]
    all letters
    [:blank:]
    all horizontal whitespace
    [:cntrl:]
    all control characters
    [:digit:]
    all digits
    [:graph:]
    all printable characters, not including space
    [:lower:]
    all lower case letters
    [:print:]
    all printable characters, including space
    [:punct:]
    all punctuation characters
    [:space:]
    all horizontal or vertical whitespace
    [:upper:]
    all upper case letters
    [:xdigit:]
    all hexadecimal digits
    [=CHAR=]
    all characters which are equivalent to CHAR

    Translation occurs if -d is not given and both SET1 and SET2 appear. -t may be used only when translating. SET2 is extended to length of SET1 by repeating its last character as necessary. Excess characters of SET2 are ignored. Only [:lower:] and [:upper:] are guaranteed to expand in ascending order; used in SET2 while translating, they may only be used in pairs to specify case conversion. -s uses SET1 if not translating nor deleting; else squeezing uses SET2 and occurs after translation or deletion.  

    AUTHOR

    Written by Jim Meyering.  

    REPORTING BUGS

    GNU coreutils online help: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
    Report tr translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>  

    COPYRIGHT

    Copyright © 2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
    This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.  

    SEE ALSO

    Full documentation at: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/tr>
    or available locally via: info ‘(coreutils) tr invocation’

    Willie
    • Website

    Willie has over 15 years of experience in Linux system administration and DevOps. After managing infrastructure for startups and enterprises alike, he founded Command Linux to share the practical knowledge he wished he had when starting out. He oversees content strategy and contributes guides on server management, automation, and security.

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