1COL(1)                    BSD General Commands Manual                   COL(1)
2

NAME

4     col — filter reverse line feeds from input
5

SYNOPSIS

7     col [-bfpx] [-l num]
8

DESCRIPTION

10     Col filters out reverse (and half reverse) line feeds so the output is in
11     the correct order with only forward and half forward line feeds, and
12     replaces white-space characters with tabs where possible.  This can be
13     useful in processing the output of nroff(1) and tbl(1).
14
15     Col reads from standard input and writes to standard output.
16
17     The options are as follows:
18
19     -b     Do not output any backspaces, printing only the last character
20            written to each column position.
21
22     -f     Forward half line feeds are permitted (``fine'' mode).  Normally
23            characters printed on a half line boundary are printed on the fol‐
24            lowing line.
25
26     -p     Force unknown control sequences to be passed through unchanged.
27            Normally, col will filter out any control sequences from the input
28            other than those recognized and interpreted by itself, which are
29            listed below.
30
31     -x     Output multiple spaces instead of tabs.
32
33     -lnum  Buffer at least num lines in memory.  By default, 128 lines are
34            buffered.
35
36     The control sequences for carriage motion that col understands and their
37     decimal values are listed in the following table:
38
39     ESC-7            reverse line feed (escape then 7)
40     ESC-8            half reverse line feed (escape then 8)
41     ESC-9            half forward line feed (escape then 9)
42     backspace        moves back one column (8); ignored in the first column
43     carriage return  (13)
44     newline          forward line feed (10); also does carriage return
45     shift in         shift to normal character set (15)
46     shift out        shift to alternate character set (14)
47     space            moves forward one column (32)
48     tab              moves forward to next tab stop (9)
49     vertical tab     reverse line feed (11)
50
51     All unrecognized control characters and escape sequences are discarded.
52
53     Col keeps track of the character set as characters are read and makes
54     sure the character set is correct when they are output.
55
56     If the input attempts to back up to the last flushed line, col will dis‐
57     play a warning message.
58

SEE ALSO

60     expand(1), nroff(1), tbl(1)
61

STANDARDS

63     The col utility conforms to the Single UNIX Specification, Version 2. The
64     -l option is an extension to the standard.
65

HISTORY

67     A col command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
68

AVAILABILITY

70     The col command is part of the util-linux-ng package and is available
71     from ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux-ng/.
72
73BSD                              June 17, 1991                             BSD