col(1) [ultrix man page]
col(1) General Commands Manual col(1) Name col - filter reverse line feeds Syntax col [-options] Description The command reads the standard input and writes the standard output. It performs the line overlays implied by reverse line feeds (ESC-7 in ASCII) and by forward and reverse half line feeds (ESC-9 and ESC-8, respectively). The command is particularly useful for filtering multi- column output made with the command of and for filtering output resulting from the preprocessor. Although accepts half line motions in its input, it does not normally output them. Instead, text that would appear between lines is moved to the next lower full line boundary. The control characters SO (ASCII code 017) and SI (ASCII code 016) are assumed to start and end text in an alternate character set. The character set (primary or alternate) associated with each printing character read is remembered. On output, SO and SI characters are gen- erated where necessary to maintain the correct treatment of each character. The command normally converts white space to tabs to shorten printing time. If the -h option is given, this conversion is suppressed. On input, the only control characters accepted are <space>, <backspace>, <tab>, <return>, <newline>, etc... The VT character is an alter- nate form of full reverse linefeed, included for compatibility with earlier programs of this type. All other non-printing characters are ignored. Options -b Assumes that the output device does not have backspacing. -f Suppresses moving half lines to the next full line. -h Suppresses conversion of white space to tabs. -p Forces through unchanged any unknown escape sequences that are found in its input. This option should be used with care. -x Suppresses conversion of white space to tabs (same as -h). Restrictions Cannot back up more than 128 lines. No more than 800 characters, including backspaces, on a line. See Also tbl(1), nroff(1) col(1)
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COL(1) BSD General Commands Manual COL(1) NAME
col -- filter reverse line feeds from input SYNOPSIS
col [-bfhpx] [-l num] DESCRIPTION
The col utility filters out reverse (and half reverse) line feeds so that the output is in the correct order with only forward and half for- ward line feeds, and replaces white-space characters with tabs where possible. This can be useful in processing the output of nroff(1) and tbl(1). The col utility reads from the standard input and writes to the standard output. The options are as follows: -b Do not output any backspaces, printing only the last character written to each column position. -f Forward half line feeds are permitted (``fine'' mode). Normally characters printed on a half line boundary are printed on the fol- lowing line. -h Don't output multiple spaces instead of tabs (default). -l num Buffer at least num lines in memory. By default, 128 lines are buffered. -p Force unknown control sequences to be passed through unchanged. Normally, col will filter out any control sequences from the input other than those recognized and interpreted by itself, which are listed below. -x Output multiple spaces instead of tabs. The control sequences for carriage motion that col understands and their decimal values are listed in the following table: ESC-7 reverse line feed (escape then 7) ESC-8 half reverse line feed (escape then 8) ESC-9 half forward line feed (escape then 9) backspace moves back one column (8); ignored in the first column carriage return (13) newline forward line feed (10); also does carriage return shift in shift to normal character set (15) shift out shift to alternate character set (14) space moves forward one column (32) tab moves forward to next tab stop (9) vertical tab reverse line feed (11) All unrecognized control characters and escape sequences are discarded. The col utility keeps track of the character set as characters are read and makes sure the character set is correct when they are output. If the input attempts to back up to the last flushed line, col will display a warning message. SEE ALSO
expand(1), nroff(1), tbl(1) STANDARDS
The col utility conforms to Version 2 of the Single UNIX Specification (``SUSv2''). HISTORY
A col command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX. BSD
June 29, 1993 BSD