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FEATURES(1) |STAT March 10, 1989
NAME
features - Tabulate Features of Items
USAGE
_f_e_a_t_u_r_e_s [-h] [-c col-delim] [-f inputfile] [-i itemwidth] [-l leader]
[-n no-str] [-p pagesize] [-w featwidth] [-y yes-str]
feature[=width] [feature[=width] ...]
DESCRIPTION
Think of this program as a consumer product comparison checklist tool.
For each item, there are features that you would like the product to
have, and for some features, several values are possible.
OPTIONS
feature
Feature Names. Feature names indicate which features to
tabulate, and in which order, to describe items. Features on the
command line can be exact matches for item's features, but to
simplify the format of feature files, features in files can be
abbreviated and upper and lower case letters are treated as
equivalent. For example, Usability on the command line matches
usab=good in the feature file. You can specify the width of a
column for a feature by putting a width after an equal sign. See
the examples.
-c col-delim
Column Delimiter String. Default: bar (|). This string is
placed between every feature column describing an item. It can
be wider than one character; for example, " | " would give a
wider table with more space in columns.
-f inputfile
Input file. Default: standard input. This option allows you to
specify a file name for the item description lines.
-h
Use Horizontal Format for Headers. If this option is selected,
then all field widths for features must be specified.
-i itemwidth
Width of Items. Default: 15 characters wide. If you have ones
that are wider, the tables won't line up correctly. This option
allows you to widen the space used to show the items.
-l leader
Leader Character After Item Name. Default: underbar (_).
-n no-str
String to Print When Item Feature is Not Present. Default:
space.
-p pagesize
Size of Pages. Default: 60 lines. For every page, a new
feature-table header is generated.
-w feat-width
Width of Feature Columns. Default: 1 character. This option
will allow you to set all the feature column widths. Individual
column widths can be overridden with feature widths on the
command line.
-y yes-string
String to Print When Item Has a Feature. Default: sharp (#).
This can be changed to any character. It can also be changed for
an individual item-feature pair by using a feature=value format.
For example,
Perlman eyes=H
could be used to indicate that Perlman's eyes are hazel. For
longer strings, you will want to adjust the width of the columns
with the -w option or with the feature name on the command line.
EXAMPLES
Product Comparisons
Suppose you want to buy a toaster with a bunch of features like
inexpensive, reliable, wood-grain and one that holds four slices of
bread. These features might be: price (L=low, M=medium, H=high),
reliability (yes, no), finish (M=metal, W=wood-grain, O=other), and
capacity (number of slices of bread). A set of toasters (items) might
be described by a list of features:
BrandX price=Med reliable finish=Wood capacity=4
BrandY price=High finish=Metal capacity=2
BrandZ price=Low finish=Wood capacity=4
The above input, along with the feature labels:
Price Reliable Finish Capacity
in the command:
features -c " | " Price=4 Reliable Finish=6 Capacity
will display:
| Price
| | Reliable
| | | Finish
| | | | Capacity
BrandX_________ | Med | # | Wood | 4 |
BrandY_________ | High | | Metal | 2 |
BrandZ_________ | Low | | Wood | 4 |
Another command shows how the same information can be viewed differently.
features -l. -c" " -h -nNo -yYes Price=6 Reliable=10 Finish=6 Capacity=10
Price Reliable Finish Capacity
BrandX......... Med Yes Wood 4
BrandY......... High No Metal 2
BrandZ......... Low No Wood 4
Other Uses
The program has been useful for organizing lists of publications by
the topics they cover and for listing the research interests of
faculty in a large Midwest computer science department.
SEE ALSO
ptx(1), sort(1)
AUTHOR
Gary Perlman
WARNINGS
Try to avoid similar feature names, especially ones that begin with
the same characters.
These are the contents of the former NiCE NeXT User Group NeXTSTEP/OpenStep software archive, currently hosted by Netfuture.ch.