col(1)                                                        col(1)


       NAME
             col - filter reverse line-feeds

       SYNOPSIS
             col [-b] [-f] [-x] [-p]

       DESCRIPTION
             col reads from the standard input and writes onto the standard
             output.  It performs the line overlays implied by reverse line
             feeds (ASCII code ESC-7), 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 and output resulting from use of the tbl(1BSD)
             preprocessor.

             If the -b option is given, col assumes that the output device
             in use is not capable of backspacing.  In this case, if two or
             more characters are to appear in the same place, only the last
             one read will be output.

             Although col accepts half-line motions in its input, it
             normally does not emit them on output.  Instead, text that
             would appear between lines is moved to the next lower full-
             line boundary.  This treatment can be suppressed by the -f
             (fine) option; in this case, the output from col may contain
             forward half-line-feeds (ESC-9), but will still never contain
             either kind of reverse line motion.

             Unless the -x option is given, col will convert white space to
             tabs on output wherever possible to shorten printing time.

             The ASCII control characters SO (\017) and SI (\016) are
             assumed by col to start and end text in an alternate character
             set.  The character set to which each input character belongs
             is remembered, and on output SI and SO characters are
             generated as appropriate to ensure that each character is
             printed in the correct character set.

             On input, the only control characters processed are space,
             backspace, tab, return, new-line, SI, SO, VT (\013), and ESC
             followed by 7, 8, or 9.  The VT character is an alternate form
             of full reverse line-feed, included for compatibility with
             some earlier programs of this type.  All other non-printing
             characters are ignored.




                           Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc.               Page 1

      col(1)                                                        col(1)


            Normally, col will ignore any escape sequences unknown to it
            that are found in its input; the -p option may be used to
            cause col to output these sequences as regular characters,
            subject to overprinting from reverse line motions.  The use of
            this option is highly discouraged unless the user is fully
            aware of the textual position of the escape sequences.

      FILES
            /usr/lib/locale/locale/LC_MESSAGES/uxdfm
                  language-specific message file [See LANG on environ(5).]

      NOTICES
            The input format accepted by col matches the output produced
            by nroff with either the -T37 or -Tlp options.  Use -T37 (and
            the -f option of col) if the ultimate disposition of the
            output of col will be a device that can interpret half-line
            motions, and -Tlp otherwise.

            col cannot back up more than 128 lines or handle more than 800
            characters per line.

            Local vertical motions that would result in backing up over
            the first line of the document are ignored.  As a result, the
            first line must not have any superscripts.

      REFERENCES
            ascii(5), nroff(1BSD), tbl(1BSD)





















                          Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc.               Page 2