# Install tal with Homebrew

Align line endings if they match. Version 1.9 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:tal
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install tal
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:tal
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.9
- **Source summary:** Align line endings if they match
- **Homepage:** <https://thomasjensen.com/software/tal/>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- tal (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.9
## 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

- <https://thomasjensen.com/software/tal/>
- <https://thomasjensen.com/software/tal/examples.html>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/tal.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/tal.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- cross-ecosystem install command graph