COL("1") manual page
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col - filter reverse line feeds
from input
col [options]
col filters out reverse (and
half-reverse) line feeds so the output is in the correct order, with only
forward and half-forward line feeds. It also replaces any whitespace characters
with tabs where possible. This can be useful in processing the output of
nroff(1)
and tbl(1)
.
col reads from standard input and writes to standard
output.
- -b, --no-backspaces
- Do not output any backspaces, printing only
the last character written to each column position.
- -f, --fine
- Permit half-forward
line feeds. Normally characters destined for a half-line boundary are printed
on the following line.
- -h, --tabs
- Output tabs instead of multiple spaces.
- -l,
--lines number
- Buffer at least number lines in memory. By default, 128 lines
are buffered.
- -p, --pass
- Force unknown control sequences to be passed through
unchanged. Normally col will filter out any control sequences other than
those recognized and interpreted by itself, which are listed below.
- -x, --spaces
- Output multiple spaces instead of tabs.
- -V, --version
- Display version information
and exit.
- -H, --help
- Display help text and exit.
The control sequences
for carriage motion that col understands and their decimal values are listed
in the following table:
- ESC-7
- reverse line feed (escape then 7)
- ESC-8
- half
reverse line feed (escape then 8)
- ESC-9
- half forward line feed (escape then
9)
- backspace
- moves back one column (8)
; ignored in the first column
- newline
- forward line feed (10); also does carriage return
- carriage return
- (13)
- shift in
- shift to normal character set (15)
- shift out
- shift to alternate
character set (14)
- space
- moves forward one column (32)
- tab
- moves forward
to next tab stop (9)
- vertical tab
- reverse line feed (11)
All unrecognized
control characters and escape sequences are discarded.
col keeps track of
the character set as characters are read and makes sure the character set
is correct when they are output.
If the input attempts to back up to the
last flushed line, col will display a warning message.
expand(1)
,
nroff(1)
, tbl(1)
The col utility conforms to the Single UNIX Specification,
Version 2. The -l option is an extension to the standard.
A col command
appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
The col command is part of the
util-linux package and is available from Linux Kernel Archive
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