text-utils/column.1

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  32 .\"     @(#)column.1    8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
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  34 .TH COLUMN 1 "January 2017" "util-linux" "User Commands"
  35 .SH NAME
  36 column \- columnate lists
  37 .SH SYNOPSIS
  38 .BR column " [options]"
  39 .RI [ file ...]
  40 .SH DESCRIPTION
  41 The
  42 .B column
  43 utility formats its input into multiple columns.  The util support three modes:
  44 .TP
  45 .BR "columns are filled before rows"
  46 This is the default mode (required by backward compatibility).
  47 .TP
  48 .BR "rows are filed before columns"
  49 This mode is enabled by option \fB-x, \-\-fillrows\fP
  50 .TP
  51 .BR "table"
  52 Determine the number of columns the input contains and create a table.  This
  53 mode is enabled by option \fB-t, \-\-table\fP and columns formatting is
  54 possible to modify by \fB\-\-table-*\fP options.  Use this mode if not sure.
  55 .PP
  56 Input is taken from \fIfile\fR, or otherwise from standard input.  Empty lines
  57 are ignored.
  58 .PP
  59 .SH OPTIONS
  60 The argument \fIcolumns\fP for \fB\-\-table-*\fP options is comma separated
  61 list of the column names as defined by \fB\-\-table-columns\fP or it's column
  62 number in order as specified by input. It's possible to mix names and numbers.
  63 .PP
  64 .IP "\fB\-J, \-\-json\fP"
  65 Use JSON output format to print the table, the option
  66 \fB\-\-table\-columns\fP is required and the option \fB\-\-table\-name\fP is recommended.
  67 .IP "\fB\-c, \-\-output\-width\fP \fIwidth\fP"
  68 Output is formatted to a width specified as number of characters. The original
  69 name of this option is --columns; this name is deprecated since v2.30. Note that input
  70 longer than \fIwidth\fP is not truncated by default.
  71 .IP "\fB\-o, \-\-output\-separator\fP \fIstring\fP"
  72 Specify the columns delimiter for table output (default is two spaces).
  73 .IP "\fB\-s, \-\-separator\fP \fIseparators\fP"
  74 Specify the possible input item delimiters (default is whitespace).
  75 .IP "\fB\-t, \-\-table\fP"
  76 Determine the number of columns the input contains and create a table.
  77 Columns are delimited with whitespace, by default, or with the characters
  78 supplied using the \fB\-\-output\-separator\fP option.
  79 Table output is useful for pretty-printing.
  80 .IP "\fB\-N, \-\-table-columns\fP \fInames\fP"
  81 Specify the columns names by comma separated list of names. The names are used
  82 for the table header or to addres column in option arguments.
  83 .IP "\fB\-R, \-\-table-right\fP \fIcolumns\fP"
  84 Right align text in the specified columns.
  85 .IP "\fB\-T, \-\-table-truncate\fP \fIcolumns\fP"
  86 Specify columns where is allowed to truncate text when necessary, otherwise
  87 very long table entries may be printed on multiple lines.
  88 .IP "\fB\-E, \-\-table-noextreme\fP \fIcolumns\fP"
  89 Specify columns where is possible to ignore unusually long (longer than
  90 average) cells when calculate column width.  The option has impact to the width
  91 calculation and table formatting, but the printed text is not affected.
  92
  93 The option is used for the last visible column by default.
  94 .IP "\fB\-W, \-\-table-wrap\fP \fIcolumns\fP"
  95 Specify columns where is possible to use multi-line cell for long text when
  96 necessary.
  97 .IP "\fB\-H, \-\-table-hide\fP \fIcolumns\fP"
  98 Don't print specified columns.
  99 .IP "\fB\-O, \-\-table-order\fP \fIcolumns\fP"
 100 Specify columns order on output.
 101 .IP "\fB\-n, \-\-table-name\fP \fIname\fP"
 102 Specify the table name used for JSON output. The defaout is "table".
 103 .IP "\fB\-r, \-\-tree\fP \fIcolumn\fP"
 104 Specify column to use tree-like output. Note that the circular dependencies and
 105 another anomalies in child and parent relation are silently ignored.
 106 .IP "\fB\-i, \-\-tree\-id\fP \fIcolumn\fP"
 107 Specify column with line ID to create child-parent relation.
 108 .IP "\fB\-p, \-\-tree\-parent\fP \fIcolumn\fP"
 109 Specify column with parent ID to create child-parent relation.
 110 .PP
 111 .IP "\fB\-x, \-\-fillrows\fP"
 112 Fill rows before filling columns.
 113 .IP "\fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR"
 114 Display version information and exit.
 115 .IP "\fB\-h, \-\-help\fP"
 116 Display help text and exit.
 117 .SH ENVIRONMENT
 118 The environment variable \fBCOLUMNS\fR is used to determine the size of
 119 the screen if no other information is available.
 120 .SH EXAMPLES
 121 Print fstab with header line and align number to the right:
 122 .EX
 123 \fBsed 's/#.*//' /etc/fstab | column --table --table-columns SOURCE,TARGET,TYPE,OPTIONS,PASS,FREQ --table-right PASS,FREQ\fR
 124 .EE
 125 .PP
 126 Print a tree:
 127 .EX
 128 \fBecho -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\fR
 129 1  0  A
 130 2  1  |-AA
 131 4  2  | |-AAA
 132 5  2  | `-AAB
 133 3  1  `-AB
 134 .EE
 135 .SH BUGS
 136 Version 2.23 changed the
 137 .B \-s
 138 option to be non-greedy, for example:
 139 .PP
 140 .EX
 141 \fBprintf "a:b:c\\n1::3\\n" | column  -t -s ':'\fR
 142 .EE
 143 .PP
 144 Old output:
 145 .EX
 146 a  b  c
 147 1  3
 148 .EE
 149 .PP
 150 New output (since util-linux 2.23):
 151 .EX
 152 a  b  c
 153 1     3
 154 .EE
 155 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 156 .BR colrm (1),
 157 .BR ls (1),
 158 .BR paste (1),
 159 .BR sort (1)
 160 .SH HISTORY
 161 The column command appeared in 4.3BSD-Reno.
 162 .SH AVAILABILITY
 163 The column command is part of the util-linux package and is available from
 164 https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.