column
format text into aligned columns
TLDR
Format output for specific width
$ printf "header1 header2\nbar foo\n" | column -c 30
Auto-align columns in tabular format$ printf "header1 header2\nbar foo\n" | column -t
Specify column delimiter for table mode$ printf "header1,header2\nbar,foo\n" | column -t -s ,
Fill rows before columns$ printf "header1\nbar\nfoobar\n" | column -c 30 -x
SYNOPSIS
column [options] [file...]
DESCRIPTION
column formats text from stdin or a file into multiple columns. By default, columns are filled before rows using whitespace as separator.The table mode (-t) is particularly useful for aligning structured data into readable tables.
PARAMETERS
-c, --output-width width
Output width in characters-t, --table
Create a table with aligned columns-s, --separator chars
Column delimiters for table mode (default: whitespace)-x, --fillrows
Fill rows before filling columns-o, --output-separator string
Table output column separator
INSTALL
sudo apt install bsdextrautils
sudo apk add util-linux-misc
CAVEATS
Part of util-linux. The table mode requires consistent delimiter usage. Very long lines may cause formatting issues.
