xref: /netbsd-src/usr.bin/col/col.1 (revision fdd524d4ccd2bb0c6f67401e938dabf773eb0372)
1.\"	$NetBSD: col.1,v 1.10 2012/03/22 07:58:18 wiz Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 1990, 1993
4.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
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6.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
7.\" Michael Rendell.
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10.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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14.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
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21.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
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33.\"     @(#)col.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/29/93
34.\"
35.Dd February 22, 1999
36.Dt COL 1
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm col
40.Nd filter reverse line feeds from input
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm
43.Op Fl bfpx
44.Op Fl l Ar num
45.Sh DESCRIPTION
46.Nm
47filters out reverse (and half reverse) line feeds so that the output is
48in the correct order with only forward and half forward line
49feeds, and replaces white-space characters with tabs where possible.
50This can be useful in processing the output of
51.Xr nroff 1
52and
53.Xr tbl 1 .
54.Pp
55.Nm
56reads from the standard input and writes to the standard output.
57.Pp
58The options are as follows:
59.Bl -tag -width "-l num  "
60.It Fl b
61Do not output any backspaces, printing only the last character
62written to each column position.
63.It Fl f
64Forward half line feeds are permitted (``fine'' mode).
65Normally characters printed on a half line boundary are printed
66on the following line.
67.It Fl p
68Force unknown control sequences to be passed through unchanged.
69Normally,
70.Nm
71will filter out any control sequences from the input other than those
72recognized and interpreted by itself, which are listed below.
73.It Fl x
74Output multiple spaces instead of tabs.
75.It Fl l Ar num
76Buffer at least
77.Ar num
78lines in memory.
79By default, 128 lines are buffered.
80.El
81.Pp
82The control sequences for carriage motion that
83.Nm
84understands and their decimal values are listed in the following
85table:
86.Pp
87.Bl -tag -width "carriage return" -compact
88.It ESC\-7
89reverse line feed (escape then 7)
90.It ESC\-8
91half reverse line feed (escape then 8)
92.It ESC\-9
93half forward line feed (escape then 9)
94.It backspace
95moves back one column (8); ignored in the first column
96.It carriage return
97(13)
98.It newline
99forward line feed (10); also does carriage return
100.It shift in
101shift to normal character set (15)
102.It shift out
103shift to alternative character set (14)
104.It space
105moves forward one column (32)
106.It tab
107moves forward to next tab stop (9)
108.It vertical tab
109reverse line feed (11)
110.El
111.Pp
112All unrecognized control characters and escape sequences are
113discarded.
114.Pp
115.Nm
116keeps track of the character set as characters are read and makes
117sure the character set is correct when they are output.
118.Pp
119If the input attempts to back up to the last flushed line,
120.Nm
121will display a warning message.
122.Sh SEE ALSO
123.Xr expand 1 ,
124.Xr nroff 1 ,
125.Xr tbl 1
126.Sh STANDARDS
127The
128.Nm
129utility conforms to
130.St -xpg4.2 .
131The
132.Fl l
133option is an extension to the standard.
134.Sh HISTORY
135A
136.Nm
137command appeared in
138.At v6 .
139