# col

## 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. It also replaces any whitespace 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**
               Permit half-forward line feeds. Normally characters destined
               for a half-line boundary are printed on the following line.
    
           **-h** , **--tabs**
               Output tabs instead of multiple spaces.
    
           **-l** , **--lines** _number_
               Buffer at least _number_ lines in memory. By default, 128 lines
               are buffered.
    
           **-p** , **--pass**
               Force unknown control sequences to be passed through
               unchanged. Normally **col** will filter out any control sequences
               other than those recognized and interpreted by itself, which
               are listed below.
    
           **-x** , **--spaces**
               Output multiple spaces instead of tabs.
    
           **-H** , **--help**
               Display help text and exit.
    
           **-V** , **--version**
               Display version and exit.
    


## CONFORMING TO



           The **col** utility conforms to the Single UNIX Specification, Version
           2. The **-l** option is an extension to the standard.
    


## NOTES



           The control sequences for carriage motion that **col** understands and
           their decimal values are listed in the following 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)
    
           All unrecognized control characters and escape sequences are
           discarded.
    
           **col** keeps track of the character set as characters are read and
           makes sure the character set is correct when they are output.
    
           If the input attempts to back up to the last flushed line, **col**
           will display a warning message.
    


## AVAILABILITY



           The **col** command is part of the util-linux package which can be
           downloaded from Linux Kernel Archive
           <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>. This page is
           part of the _util-linux_ (a random collection of Linux utilities)
           project. Information about the project can be found at 
           ⟨https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/⟩. If you have a
           bug report for this manual page, send it to
           util-linux@vger.kernel.org. This page was obtained from the
           project's upstream Git repository
           ⟨git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/util-linux/util-linux.git⟩ on
           2025-08-11. (At that time, the date of the most recent commit that
           was found in the repository was 2025-08-05.) If you discover any
           rendering problems in this HTML version of the page, or you
           believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for the page,
           or you have corrections or improvements to the information in this
           COLOPHON (which is _not_ part of the original manual page), send a
           mail to man-pages@man7.org
    
    util-linux 2.42-start-521-ec46  2025-08-09                         _COL_(1)
    


* * *