In the first usage, the break column is the first column named in the command line or the first (leftmost) column in table if no columns are specified. Values in the remaining numeric columns of table are accumulated until break column changes. When the break column changes, the accumulated values in the second and subsequent columns named on the command line (or all remaining columns, if none are specified), are printed out. This syntax is provided for compatibility with previous versions of subtotal.

The second usage of subtotal is distinguished by the -t switch, which is used in the command line to separate the names of the break columns to the left of it from the names of the columns to be accumulated on the right of it. The right-to-left order in which the break columns are specified determines the order in which they are checked for changes.

If no break columns are named then subtotal assumes that all columns with the exception of those named to the right of the -t switch are break columns. If no column names are specified to the right of the -t switch, then all remaining numeric columns are accumulated by the break column(s) specified. Finally, if no break columns are specified to the left of the -t switch, and no columns are specified to the right of it, subtotal behaves like total, and accumulates all numeric columns.

-l

list the whole table, not just subtotals. This option destroys the table format by printing newlines between subtotals.

-g

print the grand total of accumulated columns at the end of the table.

-fc

use c (instead of TAB) as the input column separation character.

-Dn

turn on debugging at level n, or 1 if n is not specified.

-t

column names before this switch are break columns; column names after this switch are to be accumulated. (See above).

-e

print out an expanded table which shows subtotals by each break column, innermost to outermost.

-s

string

this switch is used with the

-e option to specify a string to be used to indicate inner columns which have already been subtotaled as a result of expansion. The default is blank.

$ cat phonebill
mm      dd      city    minutes
--      --      ----    --------
08      01      NYC     20
08      01      NYC     25
08      01      Albany  3
08      05      Chicago 34
08      07      Dallas  28
09      01      Albany  45
09      12      Dallas  52

$ subtotal -e -s '--' -t minutes < phonebill | justify
mm      dd      city    minutes
--      --      ------- -------
08      01      NYC          45
08      01      Albany        3
08      01      --           48
08      05      Chicago      34
08      05      --           34
08      07      Dallas       28
08      07      --           28
08      --      --          110
09      01      Albany       45
09      01      --           45
09      12      Dallas       52
09      12      --           52
09      --      --           97
--      --      --          207