#!/bin/bash shopt -s extglob Version=1.04 Myname="${0##*/}" :<<'DOC' = cols - distribute words over columns = Synopsis cols [options] [file] == Options -h,--help print this help and exit -H,--Help print full documentation via less and exit -V,--version print version and exit -a,--across print row by row; default: column by column -c,--columns=X print in X columns; the default is to print as many columns as fit in the width of the window -s,--squeeze remove vertical white until the minimum separation between columns is the separator string defined by the |--sep| option -w,--width=X pretend the window width to be X characters --sep=X separate columns with the string X; default: one space --pre=X prefix each line with the string X --suf=X add the string X as a suffix to each line -[1-9] -1, -2, ... -9 is equivalent to -c 1, -c 2, ... -c 9 = Description cols reads words, one word per line, from standard input or from an optional file and prints them, in as many columns as are available in the current window width or, if the |--width| option was used, the width set by that option. The words are written column by column: $ seq 13|cols --width=20 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 2 4 6 8 10 12 With the |--across| option, cols writes the words row by row: $ seq 13|cols --width=20 --across 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 The number of columns can be explicitly set with the |--columns| option: $ seq 5 10 133 |cols --columns=4 5 45 85 125 15 55 95 25 65 105 35 75 115 The excessive whitespace can be cut out with the |--squeeze| option: $ seq 5 10 153 |cols -4s 5 45 85 125 15 55 95 135 25 65 105 145 35 75 115 The |--sep|, |--pre|, and |--suf| can, for example, be used to create the contents of a LaTeX table. This one is prefixed with |'% '| for a |.dtx| file: $ ls / | cols --pre='% ' --sep=' & ' --suf='\\\\' % bin & initrd.img.old & opt & usb1 \\ % boot & lib & proc & usb2 \\ % cdrom & lib32 & root & usr \\ % cj & lib64 & run & var \\ % dev & local & sbin & vmlinuz \\ % etc & lost+found & selinux & vmlinuz.old \\ % fotos & media & srv & wd \\ % ftp & mnt & store & www \\ % home & music & sys & \\ % initrd.img & nrc & tmp & \\ The width of each column is fixed to the width of the widest column. The |--squeeze| option removes the excess white space: $ ls / | cols --pre='% ' --sep=' & ' --suf='\\\\' --squeeze % bin & initrd.img.old & opt & usb1 \\ % boot & lib & proc & usb2 \\ % cdrom & lib32 & root & usr \\ % cj & lib64 & run & var \\ % dev & local & sbin & vmlinuz \\ % etc & lost+found & selinux & vmlinuz.old\\ % fotos & media & srv & wd \\ % ftp & mnt & store & www \\ % home & music & sys & \\ % initrd.img & nrc & tmp & \\ This gives room for one or two extra columns, by using the |--columns=6| option; this can be shortened to |-6|, and we can even include the shorthand for |--squeeze|: $ ls / | cols --pre='% ' --sep=' & ' --suf='\\\\' -s6 % bin & ftp & local & proc & sys & vmlinuz.old\\ % boot & home & lost+found & root & tmp & wd \\ % cdrom & initrd.img & media & run & usb1 & www \\ % cj & initrd.img.old & mnt & sbin & usb2 & \\ % dev & lib & music & selinux & usr & \\ % etc & lib32 & nrc & srv & var & \\ % fotos & lib64 & opt & store & vmlinuz & \\ = Author [Wybo Dekker](wybodekker@me.com) = Copyright Released under the [GNU General Public License](www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html) DOC REd='\e[38;5;9m' Mag='\e[38;5;5m' Nor='\e[0m' die() { local i; for i; do echo -e "$Myname: $REd$i$Nor"; done 1>&2; exit 1; } Warn() { local i; for i; do echo -e "$Myname: $Mag$i$Nor"; done 1>&2; } helpsrt() { sed -n '/^= Synopsis/,/^= /p' "$0"|sed '1d;$d'; exit; } helpall() { sed -n "/^:<<'DOC'$/,/^DOC/p" "$0"|sed '1d;$d'| less -P"$Myname-${Version/./ยท} (press h for help, q to quit)";exit; } :<<'DOC' #---------------------------------------------------------------------- = handle_options synopsis: handle_options "$@" description: handle the options. globals used: Myname Version globals set: args squeeze across sep pre suf cols returns: the number of remaning arguments DOC #------------------------------------------------------------------------------- handle_options() { local options if ! options=$(getopt \ -n "$Myname" \ -o hHVIasc:w:123456789 \ -l help,Help,version,across,squeeze,sep:,pre:,suf:,columns:,width: -- "$@" ); then exit 1; fi eval set -- "$options" squeeze=false across=false sep=' ' pre='' suf='' cols='' while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do case $1 in (-h|--help) # print this help and exit helpsrt ;; (-H|--Help) # print full documentation via less and exit helpall ;; (-V|--version) # print version and exit echo $Version exit ;; (-a|--across) # print row by row; default: column by column across=true shift ;; (-c|--columns) # print in X columns; the default is to print as # many columns as fit in the width of the window cols=$2 shift 2 ;; (-s|--squeeze) # remove vertical white until the minimum separation between # columns is the separator string defined by the |--sep| option squeeze=true shift ;; (-w|--width) # pretend the window width to be X characters width=$2 shift 2 ;; ( --sep) # separate columns with the string X; default: one space sep=${2//%/%%} shift 2 ;; ( --pre) # prefix each line with the string X pre=${2//%/%%} shift 2 ;; ( --suf) # add the string X as a suffix to each line suf=${2//%/%%} shift 2 ;; (-[1-9]) # -1, -2, ... -9 is equivalent to -c 1, -c 2, ... -c 9 cols=${1#-} shift ;; (-I) instscript "$0" || die 'the -I option is for developers only' exit ;; (--) shift break ;; (*) break ;; esac done args=( "$@" ) } temp=$(mktemp -t "$Myname.XXXXXXXXXX") trap 'rm -f $temp' 0 1 2 15 handle_options "$@" set -- "${args[@]}" test $# -le 1 || die "I expect 0 or 1 input file" maxlen=0 a=() seplen=${#sep} # available width = window width minus the lengths of prefix and suffix: : "${width:=$(tput cols)}" # unset? then make it the window width (( width=width-${#pre}-${#suf} )) # copy to temp while stripping white off and determining max word length: umask 077 # -rw------- permissions while read -r x; do x=${x##[[:space:]]} x=${x%%[[:space:]]} (( ${#x} > maxlen )) && maxlen=${#x} echo "$x" a+=("$x") done <"${1:-/dev/stdin}" >"$temp" # max number of unsqueezed columns: [[ -z $cols ]] && (( cols=(width+seplen)/(maxlen+seplen) )) n=${#a[@]} ((rows=(n+cols-1)/cols)) maxlen=() for ((row=0;row maxlen[col] )) && maxlen[col]=${#el} done done # if squeeze, then use each column's own width, # otherwise, use the maximum width for each column $squeeze || max=$(printf "%d\n" "${maxlen[@]}" | sort -n | tail -1) format= for i in "${maxlen[@]}"; do format+="%-${max:-$i}s$sep" done format="$pre${format%"$sep"}$suf\n" for ((row=0;row