col man page on HP-UX

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col(1)									col(1)

NAME
       col - filter reverse line-feeds and backspaces

SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
       reads  from the standard input and writes onto the standard output.  It
       performs the line overlays implied by reverse line  feeds  (ASCII  code
       and  by	forward and reverse half-line feeds and is particularly useful
       for filtering multi-column output made with  the	 command,  and	output
       resulting from use of the preprocessor (see nroff(1) and tbl(1)).

       If  the	option	is given, assumes that the output device in use is not
       capable of backspacing.	In this case, if two or more characters are to
       appear in the same place, only the last one read is output.

       If  the	option	is  given, assumes the output device is a line printer
       (rather than a character printer) and removes backspaces	 in  favor  of
       multiply	 overstruck  full  lines.   It generates the minimum number of
       print operations necessary to generate the  required  number  of	 over‐
       strikes.	  (All but the last print operation on a line are separated by
       carriage returns (\r); the last print operation is terminated by a new‐
       line (\n).)

       Although	 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 sup‐
       pressed by the (fine) option; in this case, the output from may contain
       forward	half-line  feeds  (ESC-9), but will still never contain either
       kind of reverse line motion.

       Unless the option is given, converts white  space  to  tabs  on	output
       wherever possible to shorten printing time.

       The  ASCII control characters SO (\016) and SI (\017) are assumed by to
       start and end text in an alternate character set.  The character set to
       which  each input character belongs is remembered, and on output SI and
       SO characters are generated as appropriate to ensure that each  charac‐
       ter is printed in the correct character set.

       On  input,  the	only control characters accepted are space, backspace,
       tab, return, new-line, SI, SO, and VT, (\013), and ESC followed	by  or
       The  VT	character  is  an  alternate  form  of full reverse line-feed,
       included for compatibility with some earlier  programs  of  this	 type.
       All other non-printing characters are ignored.

       Normally, ignores any unrecognized escape sequences found in its input;
       the option can be used to cause to output these	sequences  as  regular
       characters, subject to overprinting from reverse line motions.  The use
       of this option is highly discouraged unless the user is fully aware  of
       the textual position of the escape sequences.

   Notes
       The input format accepted by matches the output produced by with either
       the or options.	Use (and the option of if the ultimate disposition  of
       the  output  of	is  a device that can interpret half-line motions, and
       otherwise.

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
   Environment Variables
       provides a default value for the	 internationalization  variables  that
       are  unset or null.  If is unset or null, the default value of "C" (see
       lang(5)) is used. If any of the internationalization variables contains
       an  invalid  setting,  will behave as if all internationalization vari‐
       ables are set to "C".  See environ(5).

       If set to a non-empty string value, overrides the  values  of  all  the
       other internationalization variables.

       determines the interpretation of text as single and/or multi-byte char‐
       acters, the classification of characters as printable, and the  charac‐
       ters matched by character class expressions in regular expressions.

       determines the locale that should be used to affect the format and con‐
       tents of diagnostic messages written to standard error and  informative
       messages written to standard output.

       determines the location of message catalogues for the processing of

   International Code Set Support
       Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported.

EXAMPLES
       is used most often with and A common usage is:

       (very similar to the usual man(1) command).  This command allows verti‐
       cal bars and outer boxes to be printed for tables.   The	 file  is  run
       through	the preprocessor, and the output is then piped through format‐
       ting the output using the macros.  The formatted output is  then	 piped
       through	which  sets up the vertical bars and aligns the columns in the
       file.  The file is finally piped through the command, which prints  the
       output  to the screen with underlining and highlighting substituted for
       italic and bold typefaces.  The option deletes excess  space  from  the
       output so that multiple blank lines are not printed to the screen.

WARNINGS
       This  command is likely to be withdrawn from X/Open standards. Applica‐
       tions using this command might not be portable to other	vendors'  sys‐
       tems.

BUGS
       Cannot  back up more than 128 lines.  Cannot back up across page bound‐
       aries.

       There is a maximum  limit  for  the  number  of	characters,  including
       backspaces  and	overstrikes, on a line.	 The maximum limit is at least
       800 characters.

       Local vertical motions that would result in backing up over  the	 first
       line of the document are ignored.  As a result, the first line must not
       have any superscripts.

SEE ALSO
       nroff(1), tbl(1), ul(1), man(5).

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
									col(1)
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