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.TH COLUMN 1
.CT 1 files writing_output
.SH NAME
col, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, mc, fold, expand \- column alignment
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B col
[
.B -bfx
]
.PP
.B 2
[
.I file
]
.PP
.B mc
[
.B -
]
[
.BI - N
]
[
.B -t
]
[
.I file ...
]
.PP
.B fold
[
.BI - N
]
[
.I file ...
]
.PP
.B expand
[
.BI - stops
]
[
.I file ...
]
.SH DESCRIPTION
These programs rearrange files for appearance's sake.
All read the standard input and write the standard output.
Some optionally read from files instead.
.PP
.I Col
overlays lines to expunge reverse line feeds
(ESC-7)
and half line feeds (ESC-9 and ESC-8)
as produced by
.I nroff
for .2C in
.IR ms (6)
and for
.IR tbl (1).
It normally emits only full line feeds;
option
.B -f
(fine) allows half line feeds too.
Option
.B -b
removes backspaces, printing just one of each pile of overstruck
characters.
.I Col
normally converts white space to tabs;
option
.B -x
overrides this feature.
Other escaped characters and non-printing characters, except for
SO and SI, are ignored.
.PP
.I Col
should not be used for printing on an HP ThinkJet printer with
.I think
.RI ( thinkblt (9.1)),
which performs the
.I col
function itself.
.PP
Commands
.I "2, 3, 4, 5, 6"
convert their input to 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, or 6-column form,
with consecutive input lines arranged across each row.
.PP
.I Fold
inserts newlines after each
.I N
characters (default
.IR n =80,
or
.IR mux (9.1)
window size)
of long lines.
.PP
.I Mc
splits the input into as many columns as will fit in
.I N
print positions (default
.IR N =80).
Under option
.B -
each input line ending in a colon
.L :
is printed separately (see example).
On output, multiple spaces are converted to tabs; this
is suppressed by option
.BR -t .
.PP
.I Expand
replaces tabs by spaces.
The optional
.I stops
argument is a comma-separated list of tab stops, counted from 0;
default is every 8 columns.
.SH EXAMPLES
.TP
.L
tbl file | nroff -ms | col | hp
Format some tables for printing on typewriters;
use
.I col
to remove reverse line feeds and
.I hp
(see
.IR ul (1))
to do underlining, etc., on an HP terminal.
.TP
.L
ls directory1 directory2 | mc -
List files in multiple columns, separated by directory.
.SH SEE ALSO
.IR pr (1)
.SH BUGS
.I Col
can't back up more than 128 lines or
handle more than 800 characters per line,
and understands
.L VT
(013) as reverse line feed.
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