col - Filters text containing linefeeds
col [-bfhpx] [-l number]
The col command reads from standard input and writes to
standard output.
Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to
industry standards as follows:
col: XCU5.0
Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information
about industry standards and associated tags.
Assumes that the output device in use is not capable of
backspacing. In this case, if two or more characters are
to be displayed in the same position, only the last one
that is read is displayed in the output. This function is
useful for converting nroff output to produce readable
results on terminals or printers that do not support
underlining or overstriking characters. Suppresses the
default treatment of half-line motions in the input. Normally,
col does not emit half-line motions on output,
although it does accept them in its input. With this
option, output may contain forward half-linefeeds
(<ESC-9>), but not reverse linefeeds (<ESC-7> or <ESC-8>).
[Tru64 UNIX] Compresses spaces into tabs. This is the
default. [Tru64 UNIX] Buffers at least number lines in
memory. By default, 128 lines are buffered. Displays
unknown escape sequences as characters, subject to overprinting
from reverse line motions. Normally, col ignores
them. You should be fully aware of the textual position
of escape sequences before you use this option. Outputs
multiple spaces instead of tabs.
None
The col command performs the line overlays implied by
reverse linefeeds (ASCII <ESC-7>), and by forward and
reverse half-linefeeds (ASCII <ESC-9> and ASCII <ESC-8>).
It also replaces white-space characters with tabs where
possible.
[Tru64 UNIX] The col command is particularly useful for
filtering multicolumn output made by the nroff and tbl
commands.
The col command assumes that the ASCII control characters
SO (\017) and SI (\016) begin and end text in an alternate
character set. The col command remembers the character
set each input character belongs to, and on output generates
SI and SO characters as appropriate to ensure that
each character is printed in the correct character set.
On input, the col command accepts only the control
characters for the <Space>, <Backspace>, <Tab>, and
<Return> keys; the newline character; the SI, SO, and VT
control characters; and <ESC-7>, <ESC-8>, or <ESC-9>. The
VT control character (\013) is an alternate form of full
reverse linefeed included for compatibility with some earlier
programs of this type. The col command discards all
other nonprinting characters.
[Tru64 UNIX] If the input attempts to back up to the last
flushed line, col displays a warning message.
Depending on the printer, using the -x option may increase
printing time. Local vertical motion that causes a backwards
move over the first line of input is ignored. The
first line of input may not have any superscripts. This
command is marked LEGACY in XCU Issue 5.
The following exit values are returned: Successful completion.
An error occurred.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES [Toc] [Back] The following environment variables affect the execution
of col: Provides a default value for the internationalization
variables that are unset or null. If LANG is unset or
null, the corresponding value from the default locale is
used. If any of the internationalization variables contain
an invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none of
the variables had been defined. If set to a non-empty
string value, overrides the values of all the other internationalization
variables. Determines the locale for the
interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters
(for example, single-byte as opposed to multibyte
characters in arguments). Determines the locale for the
format and contents of diagnostic messages written to
standard error. Determines the location of message catalogues
for the processing of LC_MESSAGES.
Commands: deroff(1), neqn(1), nroff(1), tbl(1)
Standards: standards(5)
col(1)
[ Back ] | 