Annotation of src/usr.bin/col/README, Revision 1.1
1.1 ! deraadt 1: # @(#)README 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
! 2:
! 3: col - filter out reverse line feeds.
! 4:
! 5: Options are:
! 6: -b do not print any backspaces (last character written is printed)
! 7: -f allow half line feeds in output, by default characters between
! 8: lines are pushed to the line below
! 9: -x do not compress spaces into tabs.
! 10: -l num keep (at least) num lines in memory, 128 are kept by default
! 11:
! 12: In the 32V source code to col(1) the default behavior was to NOT compress
! 13: spaces into tabs. There was a -h option which caused it to compress spaces
! 14: into tabs. There was no -x flag.
! 15:
! 16: The 32V documentation, however, was consistent with the SVID (actually, V7
! 17: at the time) and documented a -x flag (as defined above) while making no
! 18: mention of a -h flag. Just before 4.3BSD went out, CSRG updated the manual
! 19: page to reflect the way the code worked. Suspecting that this was probably
! 20: the wrong way to go, this version adopts the SVID defaults, and no longer
! 21: documents the -h option.
! 22:
! 23: The S5 -p flag is not supported because it isn't clear what it does (looks
! 24: like a kludge introduced for a particular printer).
! 25:
! 26: Known differences between AT&T's col and this one (# is delimiter):
! 27: Input AT&T col this col
! 28: #\nabc\E7def\n# # def\nabc\r# # def\nabc\n#
! 29: #a# ## #a\n#
! 30: - last line always ends with at least one \n (or \E9)
! 31: #1234567 8\n# #1234567\t8\n# #1234567 8\n#
! 32: - single space not expanded to tab
! 33: -f #a\E8b\n# #ab\n# # b\E9\ra\n#
! 34: - can back up past first line (as far as you want) so you
! 35: *can* have a super script on the first line
! 36: #\E9_\ba\E8\nb\n# #\n_\bb\ba\n# #\n_\ba\bb\n#
! 37: - always print last character written to a position,
! 38: AT&T col claims to do this but doesn't.
! 39:
! 40: If a character is to be placed on a line that has been flushed, a warning
! 41: is produced (the AT&T col is silent). The -l flag (not in AT&T col) can
! 42: be used to increase the number of lines buffered to avoid the problem.
! 43:
! 44: General algorithm: a limited number of lines are buffered in a linked
! 45: list. When a printable character is read, it is put in the buffer of
! 46: the current line along with the column it's supposed to be in. When
! 47: a line is flushed, the characters in the line are sorted according to
! 48: column and then printed.