Commit | Line | Data |
---|---|---|
312f5e46 | 1 | .\" @(#)col.1 6.2 (Berkeley) %G% |
803f9663 | 2 | .\" |
ed25c019 | 3 | .TH COL 1 "" |
803f9663 KM |
4 | .AT 3 |
5 | .SH NAME | |
6 | col \- filter reverse line feeds | |
7 | .SH SYNOPSIS | |
c42eaf6b KM |
8 | .B col |
9 | [ | |
312f5e46 | 10 | .B \-bfh |
c42eaf6b | 11 | ] |
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12 | .SH DESCRIPTION |
13 | .I Col | |
14 | reads the standard input and writes the standard output. | |
15 | It performs the line overlays implied by reverse line | |
16 | feeds (ESC-7 in ASCII) | |
17 | and by forward and reverse half line feeds (ESC-9 and ESC-8). | |
18 | .I Col | |
19 | is particularly useful for filtering multicolumn | |
20 | output made with the `.rt' command of | |
21 | .I nroff | |
22 | and output resulting from use of the | |
23 | .IR tbl (1) | |
24 | preprocessor. | |
25 | .PP | |
26 | Although | |
27 | .I col | |
28 | accepts half line motions in its input, it normally does not | |
29 | emit them on output. | |
30 | Instead, text that would appear between lines is moved to the next lower | |
31 | full line boundary. | |
32 | This treatment can be suppressed by the | |
33 | .B \-f | |
34 | (fine) option; in this case | |
35 | the output from | |
36 | .I col | |
37 | may contain forward half line feeds (ESC-9), but will still never contain | |
38 | either kind of reverse line motion. | |
39 | .PP | |
40 | If the | |
41 | .B \-b | |
42 | option is given, | |
43 | .I col | |
44 | assumes that the output device in use is not capable of backspacing. | |
45 | In this case, if several characters are to appear in the same place, | |
46 | only the last one read will be taken. | |
47 | .PP | |
48 | The control characters SO (ASCII code 017), | |
49 | and SI (016) are assumed | |
50 | to start and end text in an alternate character set. | |
51 | The character set (primary or alternate) associated with each printing | |
52 | character read is remembered; on output, SO and SI characters are generated | |
53 | where necessary to maintain the correct treatment of each character. | |
54 | .PP | |
803f9663 | 55 | If the |
312f5e46 KM |
56 | .B \-h |
57 | option is given, | |
58 | .I col | |
59 | converts white space to tabs to shorten printing time. | |
803f9663 KM |
60 | .PP |
61 | All control characters are removed from the input except space, | |
62 | backspace, | |
63 | tab, return, newline, ESC (033) followed by one of 7, 8, 9, SI, SO, and VT | |
64 | (013). | |
65 | This last character is an alternate form of full reverse line feed, for | |
66 | compatibility with some other hardware conventions. | |
67 | All other non-printing characters are ignored. | |
68 | .SH "SEE ALSO" | |
c42eaf6b | 69 | troff(1), tbl(1) |
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70 | .SH BUGS |
71 | Can't back up more than 128 lines. | |
72 | .br | |
73 | No more than 800 characters, including backspaces, on a line. |