Index for Section 1

Alphabetical listing for C

Bottom of page

col(1)
NAME
  col - Filters text containing linefeeds

SYNOPSIS
  col [-bfhpx] [-l number]

  The col command reads from standard input and writes to standard output.

STANDARDS
  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.

OPTIONS
  -b  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.

  -f  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>).

  -h  [Tru64 UNIX]  Compresses spaces into tabs. This is the default.

  -l number
      [Tru64 UNIX]  Buffers at least number lines in memory.  By default, 128
      lines are buffered.

  -p  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.

  -x  Outputs multiple spaces instead of tabs.

OPERANDS
  None

DESCRIPTION
  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.

NOTES
   1.  Depending on the printer, using the -x option may increase printing
       time.

   2.  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.

   3.  This command is marked LEGACY in XCU Issue 5.

EXIT STATUS
  The following exit values are returned:

  0   Successful completion.

  >0  An error occurred.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
  The following environment variables affect the execution of col:

  LANG
      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.

  LC_ALL
      If set to a non-empty string value, overrides the values of all the
      other internationalization variables.

  LC_CTYPE
      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).

  LC_MESSAGES
      Determines the locale for the format and contents of diagnostic
      messages written to standard error.

  NLSPATH
      Determines the location of message catalogues for the processing of
      LC_MESSAGES.

SEE ALSO
  Commands:  deroff(1), neqn(1), nroff(1), tbl(1)

  Standards:  standards(5)

Index for Section 1

Alphabetical listing for C

Top of page