col

Additional Notes

col filters text containing reverse line feeds and other terminal formatting sequences. It is often used when processing output from old formatting tools or manual pages.

Use it when output contains backspaces, overstrikes, or line-motion sequences that make plain-text processing difficult.

Syntax

col [options]

Parameters

• Standard input: Text stream to filter.
• Standard output: Cleaned or transformed text stream.
• options: Controls for tabs, spaces, backspaces, and line feeds.

Common Options

• -b: Do not output backspaces. Useful for removing overstrikes.
• -f: Allow forward half-line feeds.
• -p: Pass unknown control sequences through.
• -x: Convert tabs to spaces.

Examples

man ls | col -b > ls.txt

Save a readable plain-text version of a manual page.

some-command | col -b | less

Strip backspace formatting before viewing output.

cat formatted.txt | col -x

Convert tabs to spaces while filtering.

Practical Notes

• col -b is common when converting formatted terminal output to searchable text.
• It does not understand every modern terminal escape sequence.
• For ANSI color codes, tools like sed, ansi2txt, or dedicated filters may be better.