1COLUMN(1)                        User Commands                       COLUMN(1)
2
3
4

NAME

6       column - columnate lists
7

SYNOPSIS

9       column [options] [file...]
10

DESCRIPTION

12       The  column  utility formats its input into multiple columns.  The util
13       support three modes:
14
15       columns are filled before rows
16              This is the default mode (required by backward compatibility).
17
18       rows are filled before columns
19              This mode is enabled by option -x, --fillrows
20
21       table  Determine the number of columns the input contains and create  a
22              table.   This  mode is enabled by option -t, --table and columns
23              formatting is possible to modify by --table-* options.  Use this
24              mode if not sure.
25
26       Input  is  taken  from  file,  or otherwise from standard input.  Empty
27       lines are ignored and all invalid multibyte sequences  are  encoded  by
28       \x<hex> convention.
29

OPTIONS

31       The  argument  columns for --table-* options is comma separated list of
32       the column names as defined by --table-columns or it's column number in
33       order as specified by input. It's possible to mix names and numbers.
34
35       -J, --json
36              Use  JSON  output  format  to  print the table, the option --ta‐
37              ble-columns is required and the option  --table-name  is  recom‐
38              mended.
39
40       -c, --output-width width
41              Output  is  formatted  to a width specified as number of charac‐
42              ters. The original name of this option is --columns;  this  name
43              is  deprecated since v2.30. Note that input longer than width is
44              not truncated by default.
45
46       -d, --table-noheadings
47              Do not print header. This option allows to  use  logical  column
48              names on command line, but keep the header hidden when print the
49              table.
50
51       -o, --output-separator string
52              Specify the columns delimiter for table output (default  is  two
53              spaces).
54
55       -s, --separator separators
56              Specify  the  possible  input item delimiters (default is white‐
57              space).
58
59       -t, --table
60              Determine the number of columns the input contains and create  a
61              table.   Columns  are  delimited with whitespace, by default, or
62              with  the  characters  supplied  using  the   --output-separator
63              option.  Table output is useful for pretty-printing.
64
65       -N, --table-columns names
66              Specify  the columns names by comma separated list of names. The
67              names are used for the table header  or  to  address  column  in
68              option arguments.
69
70       -R, --table-right columns
71              Right align text in the specified columns.
72
73       -T, --table-truncate columns
74              Specify  columns  where  is allowed to truncate text when neces‐
75              sary, otherwise very long table entries may be printed on multi‐
76              ple lines.
77
78       -E, --table-noextreme columns
79              Specify  columns  where  is  possible  to  ignore unusually long
80              (longer than average) cells when calculate  column  width.   The
81              option has impact to the width calculation and table formatting,
82              but the printed text is not affected.
83
84              The option is used for the last visible column by default.
85
86
87       -e, --table-header-repeat
88              Print header line for each page.
89
90       -W, --table-wrap columns
91              Specify columns where is possible to  use  multi-line  cell  for
92              long text when necessary.
93
94       -H, --table-hide columns
95              Don't  print  specified columns. The special placeholder '-' may
96              be used to hide all unnamed columns (see --table-columns).
97
98       -O, --table-order columns
99              Specify columns order on output.
100
101       -n, --table-name name
102              Specify the table name used for JSON output. The default is "ta‐
103              ble".
104
105       -L, --table-empty-lines
106              Insert empty line to the table for each empty line on input. The
107              default is ignore empty lines at all.
108
109       -r, --tree column
110              Specify column to use tree-like output. Note that  the  circular
111              dependencies  and another anomalies in child and parent relation
112              are silently ignored.
113
114       -i, --tree-id column
115              Specify column with line ID to create child-parent relation.
116
117       -p, --tree-parent column
118              Specify column with parent ID to create child-parent relation.
119
120       -x, --fillrows
121              Fill rows before filling columns.
122
123       -V, --version
124              Display version information and exit.
125
126       -h, --help
127              Display help text and exit.
128

ENVIRONMENT

130       The environment variable COLUMNS is used to determine the size  of  the
131       screen if no other information is available.
132

EXAMPLES

134       Print fstab with header line and align number to the right:
135       sed 's/#.*//' /etc/fstab | column --table --table-columns SOURCE,TARGET,TYPE,OPTIONS,PASS,FREQ --table-right PASS,FREQ
136
137       Print fstab and hide unnamed columns:
138       sed 's/#.*//' /etc/fstab | column --table --table-columns SOURCE,TARGET,TYPE --table-hide -
139
140       Print a tree:
141       echo -e '1 0 A\n2 1 AA\n3 1 AB\n4 2 AAA\n5 2 AAB' | column --tree-id 1 --tree-parent 2 --tree 3
142       1  0  A
143       2  1  |-AA
144       4  2  | |-AAA
145       5  2  | `-AAB
146       3  1  `-AB
147

BUGS

149       Version 2.23 changed the -s option to be non-greedy, for example:
150
151       printf "a:b:c\n1::3\n" | column  -t -s ':'
152
153       Old output:
154       a  b  c
155       1  3
156
157       New output (since util-linux 2.23):
158       a  b  c
159       1     3
160
161       Historical versions of this tool indicated that "rows are filled before
162       columns" by default, and that the -x option reverses this. This wording
163       did  not  reflect  the actual behavior, and it has since been corrected
164       (see above). Other implementations of column may continue  to  use  the
165       older documentation, but the behavior should be identical in any case.
166

SEE ALSO

168       colrm(1), ls(1), paste(1), sort(1)
169

HISTORY

171       The column command appeared in 4.3BSD-Reno.
172

AVAILABILITY

174       The  column  command is part of the util-linux package and is available
175       from https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.
176
177
178
179util-linux                       February 2019                       COLUMN(1)
Impressum