COL(1)
NAME
col − filter reverse line feeds
USAGE
col [ −bfx ]
DESCRIPTION
Col 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). Col is particularly useful for filtering multicolumn output made with the .rt command of nroff (1) and output resulting from using the tbl (1) preprocessor.
Although col accepts half-line motions in its input, it normally does not emit them on output. Instead, it moves text that would appear between lines to the next lower full-line boundary.
Col assumes that the control characters SO (ASCII code 017) and SI (016) start and end text in an alternate character set. It remembers the character set (primary or alternate) associated with each printing character read. On output, col generates SO and SI characters where necessary to maintain the correct treatment of each character.
Col normally converts white space to tabs to shorten printing time.
All control characters are removed from the input except space, backspace, tab, return, newline, and ESC (033) followed by one of 7, 8, 9, SI, SO, and VT (013). This last character is an alternate form of a full-reverse line feed, for compatibility with some other hardware conventions. All other nonprinting characters are ignored.
OPTIONS
−f Allow output to contain forward half-line feeds (ESC-9). Note that, even with this option, it will still never contain either kind of reverse line motion.
−b Assume that the output device in use is not capable of backspacing. If several characters are to appear in the same place, only the last one read will be taken.
−x Suppress the conversion of white space to tabs.
CAUTIONS
Col cannot back up more than 128 lines.
There can be no more than 800 characters, including backspaces, on a line.