macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install tallocal Homebrew formula metadata
brew / rank 13458
Install tal with Homebrew
Align line endings if they match. Version 1.9 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.
install
Additional install commands
overview
Package summary
Align line endings if they match
Project links
Commands and aliases
- tal
history
Project history and usage
tal is the Trailer Alignment Filter, a small C command-line filter by Thomas Jensen. Its official page says it reads lines from standard input, detects common trailing characters, and aligns those trailers so they begin and end on the same text columns.
Project history
The official tal page was created on 1997-05-04 and last updated on 1999-06-17 for version 1.9. It distributes source archives, DOS and Win32 ports, and documents Unix builds for systems including AIX, HP-UX, IRIX, Linux, OSF/1, SunOS 4, and SunOS 5.
tal belongs to the late-1990s Unix filter tradition: one small program, standard input to standard output, a man page, and editor integration through shell filters. The page explicitly calls out Vim visual-mode mappings for running selected lines through `tal`.
Adoption history
Official sources do not show broad mainstream adoption, but they do show portability work and user requests around formatting tables and more complex trailer selection. Homebrew packaging preserves the tool for modern macOS users despite its older upstream page.
How it is used
Typical usage is to align closing comment tags, backslashes in C macro definitions, dots in index-like text, or status markers in a to-do list. The examples page demonstrates options for padding, target columns, case-insensitive matching, maximum line length, and trailer length.
Why package nerds care
Package nerds care about tal as a tiny, durable Unix text filter: public-domain style licensing, basic C portability, editor-friendly behavior, and a feature set narrow enough to remain useful decades later. It is the sort of small tool package managers keep alive because it composes well with editors and pipelines.
Timeline
- 1997-05-04: Official tal page created.
- 1997-11-30: Examples page created.
- 1999-05-25: Examples page last updated.
- 1999-06-17: Main page last updated for tal 1.9.
Related projects
- The official page points to Vim as a natural editor integration and to boxes, Thomas Jensen's related box-drawing filter.
Sources
security posture
Risk level: green
narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.
Risk classifier
green risk · low confidence · appliance
Why
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals
Signals
- metadata:no-higher-risk-signals
Install behavior
- No Homebrew bottle metadata was recorded.
Recommended review
Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.
executables
Installed executables
| Command | Kind | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
tal | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
freshness
Version and freshness
These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.
page generated2026-08-03
manager version1.9
manager updated
local dataunknown
upstreamnot available
latest detectednot detected
- okNo freshness warnings were generated.
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:tal |
|---|---|
| Version | 1.9 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Homepage | https://thomasjensen.com/software/tal/ |
| Bottle | not recorded |
| Service | none declared |
source trail
Generated from repository data
This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.
Combined YAML source
View the package source record on GitHub.
Used sources
- Geiger risk classifier
- cross-ecosystem install command graph
- curated package history
- pkg.so package database
- pkgdb category and tag curation