COL(1)                  COMMAND REFERENCE                  COL(1)



NAME
     col - filter reverse linefeeds

SYNOPSIS
     col [ - b ] [ - f ] [ - h ]

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-linefeeds
     (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 (1) preprocessor.

     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-linefeeds (ESC-9), but will still never contain
     either kind of reverse line motion.

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

     The control characters SO (ASCII code 017), and SI (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 generated where necessary to maintain
     the correct treatment of each character.

     Col normally converts white space to spaces.  If the -h
     option is given, white space is converted to tabs.

     All control characters are removed from the input except
     space, backspace, tab, return, newline, ESC (033) followed
     by 7, 8, 9, SI, SO, or VT (013).  This last character is an
     alternate form of full reverse linefeed, for compatibility
     with some other hardware conventions.  All other nonprinting
     characters are ignored.

OPTIONS
     -b  Col assumes that the output device in use is not capable
         of backspacing.  In this case, if several characters are
         to appear in the same place, only the last one read will
         be taken.

     -f  The output from col may contain forward half-linefeeds
         (ESC-9), but will still never contain either kind of



Printed 10/17/86                                                1

COL(1)                  COMMAND REFERENCE                  COL(1)



         reverse line motion.

     -h  White space is converted to tabs.

EXAMPLES
     The following runs tbl(1) and nroff(1) on the file
     examp.tbl, pipes this output through col, converting the
     white space to tabs, and finally piping the output through
     more(1):



          tbl examp.tbl | nroff | col -h | more


RETURN VALUE
     [NO_ERRS]      Command completed without error.

     [USAGE]        Incorrect command line syntax. Execution
                    terminated.

     [NP_ERR]       An error occurred that was not a system
                    error.  Execution terminated.

CAVEATS
     Can't back up more than 128 lines.
     No more than 2048 characters, including backspaces, on a
     line.

SEE ALSO
     more(1), nroff(1), tbl(1).
























Printed 10/17/86                                                2

%%index%%
na:72,66;
sy:138,145;
de:283,2204;
op:2487,454;3085,87;
ex:3172,370;
rv:3542,338;
ca:3880,164;
se:4044,134;
%%index%%000000000141