[thirdparty/util-linux.git] / text-utils / col.1

.\" Copyright (c) 1990 The Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
.\" Michael Rendell.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
.\"    without specific prior written permission.
.\"
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
.\"     @(#)col.1	6.8 (Berkeley) 6/17/91
.\"
.Dd June 17, 1991
.Dt COL 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm col
.Nd filter reverse line feeds from input
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm col
.Op Fl bfpx
.Op Fl l Ar num
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm 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
.Xr nroff 1
and
.Xr tbl  1 .
.Pp
.Nm Col
reads from standard input and writes to standard output.
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width "-lnum"
.It Fl b
Do not output any backspaces, printing only the last character
written to each column position.
.It Fl f
Forward half line feeds are permitted (``fine'' mode).
Normally characters printed on a half line boundary are printed
on the following line.
.It Fl p
Force unknown control sequences to be passed through unchanged.
Normally,
.Nm col
will filter out any control sequences from the input other than those
recognized and interpreted by itself, which are listed below.
.It Fl x
Output multiple spaces instead of tabs.
.It Fl l Ns Ar num
Buffer at least
.Ar num
lines in memory.
By default, 128 lines are buffered.
.El
.Pp
The control sequences for carriage motion that
.Nm col
understands and their decimal values are listed in the following
table:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width "carriage return" -compact
.It ESC\-7
reverse line feed (escape then 7)
.It ESC\-8
half reverse line feed (escape then 8)
.It ESC\-9
half forward line feed (escape then 9)
.It backspace
moves back one column (8); ignored in the first column
.It carriage return
(13)
.It newline
forward line feed (10); also does carriage return
.It shift in
shift to normal character set (15)
.It shift out
shift to alternate character set (14)
.It space
moves forward one column (32)
.It tab
moves forward to next tab stop (9)
.It vertical tab
reverse line feed (11)
.El
.Pp
All unrecognized control characters and escape sequences are
discarded.
.Pp
.Nm Col
keeps track of the character set as characters are read and makes
sure the character set is correct when they are output.
.Pp
If the input attempts to back up to the last flushed line,
.Nm col
will display a warning message.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr expand 1 ,
.Xr nroff 1 ,
.Xr tbl 1
.Sh STANDARDS
The
.Nm col
utility conforms to the Single UNIX Specification, Version 2. The
.Fl l
option is an extension to the standard.
.Sh HISTORY
A
.Nm col
command
appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
.Sh AVAILABILITY
The col command is part of the util-linux-ng package and is available from
ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux-ng/.
Commit	Line	Data
6dbe3af9 KZ	1	.\" Copyright (c) 1990 The Regents of the University of California.
	2	.\" All rights reserved.
	3	.\"
	4	.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
	5	.\" Michael Rendell.
	6	.\"
	7	.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
	8	.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
	9	.\" are met:
	10	.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
	11	.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
	12	.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
	13	.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
	14	.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
	15	.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
	16	.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
	17	.\" This product includes software developed by the University of
	18	.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
	19	.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
	20	.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
	21	.\" without specific prior written permission.
	22	.\"
	23	.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
	24	.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
	25	.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
	26	.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
	27	.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
	28	.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
	29	.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
	30	.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
	31	.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
	32	.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
	33	.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
	34	.\"
	35	.\" @(#)col.1 6.8 (Berkeley) 6/17/91
	36	.\"
	37	.Dd June 17, 1991
	38	.Dt COL 1
	39	.Os
	40	.Sh NAME
	41	.Nm col
	42	.Nd filter reverse line feeds from input
	43	.Sh SYNOPSIS
	44	.Nm col
22853e4a	45	.Op Fl bfpx
6dbe3af9 KZ	46	.Op Fl l Ar num
	47	.Sh DESCRIPTION
	48	.Nm Col
	49	filters out reverse (and half reverse) line feeds so the output is
	50	in the correct order with only forward and half forward line
	51	feeds, and replaces white-space characters with tabs where possible.
	52	This can be useful in processing the output of
	53	.Xr nroff 1
	54	and
	55	.Xr tbl 1 .
	56	.Pp
	57	.Nm Col
	58	reads from standard input and writes to standard output.
	59	.Pp
	60	The options are as follows:
	61	.Bl -tag -width "-lnum"
	62	.It Fl b
	63	Do not output any backspaces, printing only the last character
	64	written to each column position.
	65	.It Fl f
	66	Forward half line feeds are permitted (``fine'' mode).
	67	Normally characters printed on a half line boundary are printed
	68	on the following line.
22853e4a KZ	69	.It Fl p
	70	Force unknown control sequences to be passed through unchanged.
	71	Normally,
	72	.Nm col
	73	will filter out any control sequences from the input other than those
	74	recognized and interpreted by itself, which are listed below.
6dbe3af9 KZ	75	.It Fl x
	76	Output multiple spaces instead of tabs.
	77	.It Fl l Ns Ar num
	78	Buffer at least
	79	.Ar num
	80	lines in memory.
	81	By default, 128 lines are buffered.
	82	.El
	83	.Pp
	84	The control sequences for carriage motion that
	85	.Nm col
	86	understands and their decimal values are listed in the following
	87	table:
	88	.Pp
	89	.Bl -tag -width "carriage return" -compact
	90	.It ESC\-7
	91	reverse line feed (escape then 7)
	92	.It ESC\-8
	93	half reverse line feed (escape then 8)
	94	.It ESC\-9
	95	half forward line feed (escape then 9)
	96	.It backspace
	97	moves back one column (8); ignored in the first column
	98	.It carriage return
	99	(13)
	100	.It newline
	101	forward line feed (10); also does carriage return
	102	.It shift in
	103	shift to normal character set (15)
	104	.It shift out
	105	shift to alternate character set (14)
	106	.It space
	107	moves forward one column (32)
	108	.It tab
	109	moves forward to next tab stop (9)
	110	.It vertical tab
	111	reverse line feed (11)
	112	.El
	113	.Pp
	114	All unrecognized control characters and escape sequences are
	115	discarded.
	116	.Pp
	117	.Nm Col
	118	keeps track of the character set as characters are read and makes
	119	sure the character set is correct when they are output.
	120	.Pp
	121	If the input attempts to back up to the last flushed line,
	122	.Nm col
	123	will display a warning message.
	124	.Sh SEE ALSO
	125	.Xr expand 1 ,
	126	.Xr nroff 1 ,
	127	.Xr tbl 1
22853e4a KZ	128	.Sh STANDARDS
	129	The
	130	.Nm col
	131	utility conforms to the Single UNIX Specification, Version 2. The
	132	.Fl l
	133	option is an extension to the standard.
6dbe3af9 KZ	134	.Sh HISTORY
	135	A
	136	.Nm col
	137	command
	138	appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
86d62711 KZ	139	.Sh AVAILABILITY
	140	The col command is part of the util-linux-ng package and is available from
	141	ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux-ng/.