Overview
col transforms text streams by removing or converting specific control characters, making them suitable for display on terminals or in files. It is particularly useful for handling sequences like backspaces used for text emphasis in `man` pages.
Key Features
- Removes reverse line feeds
- Processes backspace characters (removes or converts to spaces)
- Expands tab characters to spaces
- Filters other control characters
Key Options
Filtering Options
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Description:
`col` Executes the command.
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Usage Examples
The col command is primarily used to process the output of other commands via pipes (|).
Filtering `man` page output
man ls | col -b > ls_manpage.txtPipes the output of `man ls` through `col -b` to remove backspace-induced bold formatting and produce pure text. This is useful when saving `man` pages to a file.
Converting tabs to spaces
cat my_file_with_tabs.txt | col -xProcesses the content of a file containing tab characters with `col -x` to convert all tabs into spaces. This helps maintain consistent formatting in text files.
Handling both backspaces and tabs
some_command_output | col -bxProcesses both backspace and tab characters to achieve the cleanest plain text output.
Tips & Notes
The col command is specialized for converting specific output formats into plain text.
Using with `man` pages
When saving `man` page output to a file or piping it to another program, it's recommended to use `col -b` or `col -bx` to remove unnecessary control characters. For example, `man <command> | col -bx | less` provides a cleaner output in `less`.
- `man <command> | col -bx` is a standard way to convert `man` pages to plain text.
- Using `col` when saving output to a file makes it easier to view in a text editor later.
Combining with other text processing tools
`col` becomes more powerful when used in pipelines with other text processing tools like `sed`, `awk`, and `grep`. For instance, you can use it as `man