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
  95 .IP "\fB\-e, \-\-table\-header\-repeat\fP"
  96 Print header line for each page.
  97 .IP "\fB\-W, \-\-table-wrap\fP \fIcolumns\fP"
  98 Specify columns where is possible to use multi-line cell for long text when
  99 necessary.
 100 .IP "\fB\-H, \-\-table-hide\fP \fIcolumns\fP"
 101 Don't print specified columns.
 102 .IP "\fB\-O, \-\-table-order\fP \fIcolumns\fP"
 103 Specify columns order on output.
 104 .IP "\fB\-n, \-\-table-name\fP \fIname\fP"
 105 Specify the table name used for JSON output. The defaout is "table".
 106 .IP "\fB\-r, \-\-tree\fP \fIcolumn\fP"
 107 Specify column to use tree-like output. Note that the circular dependencies and
 108 another anomalies in child and parent relation are silently ignored.
 109 .IP "\fB\-i, \-\-tree\-id\fP \fIcolumn\fP"
 110 Specify column with line ID to create child-parent relation.
 111 .IP "\fB\-p, \-\-tree\-parent\fP \fIcolumn\fP"
 112 Specify column with parent ID to create child-parent relation.
 113 .PP
 114 .IP "\fB\-x, \-\-fillrows\fP"
 115 Fill rows before filling columns.
 116 .IP "\fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR"
 117 Display version information and exit.
 118 .IP "\fB\-h, \-\-help\fP"
 119 Display help text and exit.
 120 .SH ENVIRONMENT
 121 The environment variable \fBCOLUMNS\fR is used to determine the size of
 122 the screen if no other information is available.
 123 .SH EXAMPLES
 124 Print fstab with header line and align number to the right:
 125 .EX
 126 \fBsed 's/#.*//' /etc/fstab | column --table --table-columns SOURCE,TARGET,TYPE,OPTIONS,PASS,FREQ --table-right PASS,FREQ\fR
 127 .EE
 128 .PP
 129 Print a tree:
 130 .EX
 131 \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
 132 1  0  A
 133 2  1  |-AA
 134 4  2  | |-AAA
 135 5  2  | `-AAB
 136 3  1  `-AB
 137 .EE
 138 .SH BUGS
 139 Version 2.23 changed the
 140 .B \-s
 141 option to be non-greedy, for example:
 142 .PP
 143 .EX
 144 \fBprintf "a:b:c\\n1::3\\n" | column  -t -s ':'\fR
 145 .EE
 146 .PP
 147 Old output:
 148 .EX
 149 a  b  c
 150 1  3
 151 .EE
 152 .PP
 153 New output (since util-linux 2.23):
 154 .EX
 155 a  b  c
 156 1     3
 157 .EE
 158 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 159 .BR colrm (1),
 160 .BR ls (1),
 161 .BR paste (1),
 162 .BR sort (1)
 163 .SH HISTORY
 164 The column command appeared in 4.3BSD-Reno.
 165 .SH AVAILABILITY
 166 The column command is part of the util-linux package and is available from
 167 https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.