column

Format output file by columns

Summary

column [options] [file ...]

The main purpose

• Organize single column data into multiple columns for display. The width of each row can be specified, and the excess part will be automatically wrapped.
• Quickly organize multi-column data and align the characters in each column.

Parameters

file (optional), when no file is specified, it will be read from standard input by default, so it can be used with the pipe character.

Options

-c, --columns <width> Output width in characters
-t, --table Create a table (characters in each column will be aligned)
-s, --separator <string> Specify the separator to identify the table
-o, --output-separator <string> Column separator of the output table, default is two spaces
-x, --fillrows fill rows before columns
-h, --help show this help
-V, --version output version information

return value

Format the arranged string.

Example

• Organize single column data

# Generate 26 English letters, one in each column
$ for a in {a..z}; do echo $a; done > test

#Maximum 60 characters per line
$ cat test | column -c 60
a e i m q u y
b f j n r v z
c g k o s w
d h l p t x

# On the basis of the above, further organization, the width between each column defaults to two blank characters
$ cat test | column -c 60 | column -t
a e i m q u y
b f j n r v z
c g k o s w
d h l p t x

# Specify each column to be spliced with ', '
$ cat test | column -c 60 | column -t -o ', '
a, e, i, m, q, u, y
b, f, j, n, r, v, z
c, g, k, o, s, w
d, h, l, p, t, x

• Organize data in multiple columns

# Existing text file test with the following messy content
$ cat test
Address[0] Metal3,pin 133.175:159.92
Address[1] Metal3,pin 112.38:159.92
Address[2] Metal3,pin 70.775:159.92
Address[3] Metal3,pin 41.655:159.92
DataIn[0] Metal3,pin 66.615:159.92
DataIn[1] Metal3,pin 37.495:159.92
DataIn[2] Metal3,pin 122.88:159.92
DataIn[3] Metal3,pin 95.74:159.92
DataOut[0] Metal3,pin 45.815:159.92
DataOut[1] Metal3,pin 79.095:159.92
DataOut[2] Metal3,pin 104.055:159.92
DataOut[3] Metal3,pin 62.46:159.92
MemReq Metal3,pin 108.215:159.92
RdWrBar Metal3,pin 87.415:159.92
clock Metal3,pin 74.935:159.92

# Column alignment
$ cat test | column -t
Address[0] Metal3,pin 133.175:159.92
Address[1] Metal3,pin 112.38:159.92
Address[2] Metal3,pin 70.775:159.92
Address[3] Metal3,pin 41.655:159.92
DataIn[0] Metal3,pin 66.615:159.92
DataIn[1] Metal3,pin 37.495:159.92
DataIn[2] Metal3,pin 122.88:159.92
DataIn[3] Metal3,pin 95.74:159.92
DataOut[0] Metal3,pin 45.815:159.92
DataOut[1] Metal3,pin 79.095:159.92
DataOut[2] Metal3,pin 104.055:159.92
DataOut[3] Metal3,pin 62.46:159.92
MemReq Metal3,pin 108.215:159.92
RdWrBar Metal3,pin 87.415:159.92
clock Metal3,pin 74.935:159.92

# Also recognize ',' and ':' as delimiters
$ cat test | column -t -s ',: '
Address[0] Metal3 pin 133.175 159.92
Address[1] Metal3 pin 112.38 159.92
Address[2] Metal3 pin 70.775 159.92
Address[3] Metal3 pin 41.655 159.92
DataIn[0] Metal3 pin 66.615 159.92
DataIn[1] Metal3 pin 37.495 159.92
DataIn[2] Metal3 pin 122.88 159.92
DataIn[3] Metal3 pin 95.74 159.92
DataOut[0] Metal3 pin 45.815 159.92
DataOut[1] Metal3 pin 79.095 159.92
DataOut[2] Metal3 pin 104.055 159.92
DataOut[3] Metal3 pin 62.46 159.92
MemReq Metal3 pin 108.215 159.92
RdWrBar Metal3 pin 87.415 159.92
clockMetal3 pin 74.935 159.92