COL(1) COL(1) col - col 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 . -b, --no-backspaces , , . -f, --fine . , . -h, --tabs . -l, --lines 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 . -H, --help . -V, --version . The col utility conforms to the Single UNIX Specification, Version 2. The -l option is an extension to the standard. The control sequences for carriage motion that col understands and their decimal values are listed in the following table: ESC-7 (escape, 7) ESC-8 (escape, 8) ESC-9 (escape, 9) (8); (10); (13) shift in (15) shift out (14) (32) (9) (11) . col . , col . col ' AT&T UNIX 6. expand(1), nroff(1), tbl(1) col util-linux, Linux . util-linux 2.41 2025-03-29 COL(1)