Name
col
Synopsis
col [options]
Description
A postprocessing filter that handles reverse linefeeds and escape characters, allowing output from tbl or nroff to appear in reasonable form on a terminal.
Options
- -b
Ignore backspace characters; helpful when printing manpages.
- -f
Process half-line vertical motions, but not reverse line motion. (Normally, half-line input motion is displayed on the next full line.)
- -l n
Buffer at least n lines in memory. The default buffer size is 128 lines.
- -x
Normally, col saves printing time by converting sequences of spaces to tabs. Use -x to suppress this conversion.
Examples
Run myfile through tbl and nroff, then capture output on screen by filtering through col and more:
tbl myfile | nroff | col | more
Save manpage output for the ls command in out.print, stripping out backspaces (which would otherwise appear as ^H):
man ls | col -b > out.print
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