Man Pages - Manpage for col

Posted May 26th, 2004 in Man Pages (Updated May 23rd, 2007)

Man page for the unix linux bsd command col.

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

NAME
     col - filter reverse line feeds from input

SYNOPSIS
     col [-bfpx] [-l num]

DESCRIPTION
     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, and
     replaces white-space 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.

     The options are as follows:

     -b     Do not output any backspaces, printing only the last character
            written to each column position.

     -f     Forward half line feeds are permitted (``fine'' mode).  Normally
            characters printed on a half line boundary are printed on the fol‐
            lowing line.

     -p     Force unknown control sequences to be passed through unchanged.
            Normally, col will filter out any control sequences from the input
            other than those recognized and interpreted by itself, which are
            listed below.

     -x     Output multiple spaces instead of tabs.

     -lnum  Buffer at least num lines in memory.  By default, 128 lines are
            buffered.

     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
     carriage return  (13)
     newline          forward line feed (10); also does carriage return
     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 dis‐
     play a warning message.

SEE ALSO
     expand(1), nroff(1), tbl(1)

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

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

BSD                              June 17, 1991                             BSD

This manual page for col was generated by Chris Hope using openSUSE 10.2 on May 23rd, 2007