+.TH COL 1
+.SH NAME
+col \- filter reverse line feeds
+.SH SYNOPSIS
+.B col [\|\-bfx\|]
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+.I Col
+reads the standard input and writes the standard output.
+It performs the line overlays implied by reverse line
+feeds (ESC-7 in ASCII)
+and by forward and reverse half line feeds (ESC-9 and ESC-8).
+.I Col
+is particularly useful for filtering multicolumn
+output made with the `.rt' command of
+.I nroff
+and output resulting from use of the
+.IR tbl (1)
+preprocessor.
+.PP
+Although
+.I col
+accepts half line motions in its input, it normally does not
+emit them on output.
+Instead, text that would appear between lines is moved to the next lower
+full line boundary.
+This treatment can be suppressed by the
+.B \-f
+(fine) option; in this case
+the output from
+.I col
+may contain forward half line feeds (ESC-9), but will still never contain
+either kind of reverse line motion.
+.PP
+If the
+.B \-b
+option is given,
+.I col
+assumes that the output device in use is not capable of backspacing.
+In this case, if several characters are to appear in the same place,
+only the last one read will be taken.
+.PP
+The control characters SO (ASCII code 017),
+and SI (016) are assumed
+to start and end text in an alternate character set.
+The character set (primary or alternate) associated with each printing
+character read is remembered; on output, SO and SI characters are generated
+where necessary to maintain the correct treatment of each character.
+.PP
+.I Col
+normally converts white space to tabs to shorten printing time.
+If the
+.B \-x
+option is given, this conversion is suppressed.
+.PP
+All control characters are removed from the input except space,
+backspace,
+tab, return, newline, ESC (033) followed by one of 789, SI, SO, and VT
+(013).
+This last character is an alternate form of full reverse line feed, for
+compatibility with some other hardware conventions.
+All other non-printing characters are ignored.
+.SH "SEE ALSO"
+troff(1), tbl(1), greek(1)
+.SH BUGS
+Can't back up more than 128 lines.
+.br
+No more than 800 characters, including backspaces, on a line.