COL(1) User Commands COL(1) NAME col - filter reverse line feeds from input SYNOPSIS col [options] DESCRIPTION col filters out reverse (and half-reverse) line feeds so the output is in the correct order with only forward and half-forward 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). col reads from standard input and writes to standard output. OPTIONS -b, --no-backspaces Do not output any backspaces, printing only the last character written to each column position. -f, --fine Forward half line feeds are permitted fine mode. Normally characters printed on a half-line boundary are printed on the following line. -p, --pass Force unknown control sequences to be passed through unchanged. Normally, col will filter out any con‐ trol sequences from the input other than those recognized and interpreted by itself, which are listed below. -h, --tabs Output tabs instead of multiple spaces. -x, --spaces Output multiple spaces instead of tabs. -l, --lines number Buffer at least number lines in memory. By default, 128 lines are buffered. -V, --version Output version information and exit. -H, --help Output help and exit. NOTES The control sequences for carriage motion that col understands and their decimal values are listed in the fol‐ lowing 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 newline forward line feed (10); also does carriage return carriage return (13) 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) The col utility conforms to the Single UNIX Specification, Version 2. The -l option is an extension to the standard. HISTORY A col command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX. AVAILABILITY The col command is part of the util-linux package and is available from Linux Kernel Archive ⟨ftp:// ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/⟩. util-linux September 2011 COL(1)