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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.\"
07990fdc 37.TH COL "1" "July 2014" "util-linux" "User Commands"
9dd5ea62 38.SH NAME
1b19ea31 39col \- filter reverse line feeds from input
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40.SH SYNOPSIS
41.B col
42[options]
43.SH DESCRIPTION
44.B col
45filters out reverse (and half-reverse) line feeds so the output is in the
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46correct order, with only forward and half-forward line feeds. It also replaces
47any whitespace characters with tabs where possible. This can be useful in
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48processing the output of
49.BR nroff (1)
6dbe3af9 50and
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51.BR tbl (1).
52.PP
53.B col
6dbe3af9 54reads from standard input and writes to standard output.
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55.SH OPTIONS
56.TP
b06c1ca6 57\fB\-b\fR, \fB\-\-no\-backspaces\fR
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58Do not output any backspaces, printing only the last character written to
59each column position.
60.TP
61\fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-fine\fR
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62Permit half-forward line feeds.
63Normally characters destined for a half-line boundary are printed on the
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64following line.
65.TP
d1daf8e1 66\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-tabs\fR
0d196114 67Output tabs instead of multiple spaces.
d1daf8e1 68.TP
d1daf8e1 69\fB\-l\fR, \fB\-\-lines\fR \fInumber\fR
6dbe3af9 70Buffer at least
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71.I number
72lines in memory. By default, 128 lines are buffered.
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73.TP
74\fB\-p\fR, \fB\-\-pass\fR
75Force unknown control sequences to be passed through unchanged. Normally
76.B col
77will filter out any control sequences other than those
78recognized and interpreted by itself, which are listed below.
79.TP
80\fB\-x\fR, \fB\-\-spaces\fR
81Output multiple spaces instead of tabs.
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82.TP
83\fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR
b4362b6f 84Display version information and exit.
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85.TP
86\fB\-H\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR
b4362b6f 87Display help text and exit.
d1daf8e1 88.SH NOTES
6dbe3af9 89The control sequences for carriage motion that
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90.B col
91understands and their decimal values are listed in the following table:
92.PP
93.RS
94.PD 0
95.TP 18
96.B ESC\-7
6dbe3af9 97reverse line feed (escape then 7)
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98.TP
99.B ESC\-8
6dbe3af9 100half reverse line feed (escape then 8)
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101.TP
102.B ESC\-9
6dbe3af9 103half forward line feed (escape then 9)
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104.TP
105.B backspace
6dbe3af9 106moves back one column (8); ignored in the first column
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107.TP
108.B newline
6dbe3af9 109forward line feed (10); also does carriage return
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110.TP
111.B carriage return
112(13)
113.TP
114.B shift in
6dbe3af9 115shift to normal character set (15)
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116.TP
117.B shift out
6dbe3af9 118shift to alternate character set (14)
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119.TP
120.B space
6dbe3af9 121moves forward one column (32)
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122.TP
123.B tab
6dbe3af9 124moves forward to next tab stop (9)
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125.TP
126.B vertical tab
6dbe3af9 127reverse line feed (11)
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128.PD
129.RE
130.PP
131All unrecognized control characters and escape sequences are discarded.
132.PP
133.B col
134keeps track of the character set as characters are read and makes sure the
135character set is correct when they are output.
136.PP
6dbe3af9 137If the input attempts to back up to the last flushed line,
d1daf8e1 138.B col
6dbe3af9 139will display a warning message.
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140.SH SEE ALSO
141.BR expand (1),
142.BR nroff (1),
143.BR tbl (1)
ef293e18 144.SH CONFORMING TO
22853e4a 145The
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146.B col
147utility conforms to the Single UNIX Specification, Version 2. The
148.B \-l
22853e4a 149option is an extension to the standard.
d1daf8e1 150.SH HISTORY
6dbe3af9 151A
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152.B col
153command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
154.SH AVAILABILITY
601d12fb 155The col command is part of the util-linux package and is available from
d673b74e 156.UR https://\:www.kernel.org\:/pub\:/linux\:/utils\:/util-linux/
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157Linux Kernel Archive
158.UE .