A script to format text into columns.
The following is the output from its help option, followed by the code.
$ col -h
Usage: col [-l] [n]
Pipes input into columns.
n number of columns. Also set with NCOLS variable.
Default, columns as will fit.
-l Expects input of one item per line.
Example: $ls |col 3
Converts output of the ls command into 3 columns.
Example: $ls -1|col -l 2
Converts output of command, ls -1, into 2 columns.
Code:
#!/bin/sh
# eg, ls | col 2 #puts ls output into two columns.
main() {
if echo $1|egrep -q '(-h|--h)';then
echo -e '\nUsage: col [-l] [n]'\
"\n\n"Pipes input into columns. \
'\n\n\t n\tnumber of columns. Also set with NCOLS variable.'\
'\n\t\tDefault, columns as will fit.'\
'\n\n\t-l\tExpects input of one item per line.'\
'\n\nExample:\t$ls |col 3\n'\
'\t\t'Converts output of the ls command into 3 columns.'\n'\
'\n\nExample:\t$ls -1|col -l 2\n'\
'\t\t'Converts output of command, ls -1, into 2 columns.'\n';
exit 1;
fi
if test "$1" = -l;then collines=true;shift;fi;
if test -z $NCOLS;then if test "$1"; then NCOLS=$1; fi; fi
if test -z $COLUMNS;then COLUMNS=`stty -F /dev/tty size|cut -d' ' -f2`;fi
local ellipsis_char=`echo -e "\xe2\x80\xa6"`;
if test ${#ellipsis_char} -ne 1; then BASH_BUG=true; fi
IFS=$(echo -en "\n\b ")
if test $collines;then IFS=$(echo -en "\n\b");fi
values=(`cat`)
#echo debug col. NCOLS:$NCOLS. width:$COLUMNS
longest_value=0
for value in "${values[@]}"; do
if [[ ${#value} -gt $longest_value ]]; then
longest_value=${#value}
fi
done
term_width=$COLUMNS;
if test "$NCOLS";then
ncolumns=$NCOLS;
else
(( ncolumns = term_width / (longest_value+1) ))
if test $ncolumns -lt 2;then ncolumns=2; fi;
fi
(( col_width = (term_width / ncolumns) ))
#echo debug longest $longest_value, col_width:$col_width, no of cols,$ncolumns.
i=0
for value in "${values[@]}"; do
values[$i]=`justify $((col_width-1)) $value`;
let i=i+1;
done
curr_col=0
for value in "${values[@]}"; do
value_len=`strlen $value`;
echo -n "$value" 2>/dev/null
(( spaces_missing = $col_width - $value_len ))
# echo -ne ""DEBUG spaces_mmissing $spaces_missing. val len $value_len
(( curr_col++ ))
if [[ $curr_col == $ncolumns ]]; then
echo 2>/dev/null #in case of sigpipe
curr_col=0
else
printf "%*s" $spaces_missing 2>/dev/null
fi
done
# Make sure there is a newline at the end
if [[ $curr_col != 0 ]]; then
echo 2>/dev/null
fi
#for i in $(seq 0 $term_width);do echo -n $((i%10));done;
}
justify() {
local size=$1;shift
local str=$*
dsize=$((size/2))
#echo -e "\n"debug: ipsummary input:$str. wc \-c:`echo -n "$*"|wc -c`. \-gt Size:$size. dsize:$dsize >/dev/tty
if test ${#str} -gt $size;then
echo -n $str 2>/dev/null|head -c $((dsize-1));
echo -en $ellipsis_char;
echo -n $str|tail -c $((dsize));
else
echo -n $str
fi
echo
}
strlen() {
str="$*";
n=${#str};
ascii_str=`echo -n "$str"|strings -n1|tr -d "\n"`
n2=${#ascii_str}
if test $n -eq $n2; then
echo -n $n;
else
echo -n $(( n2 + (n-n2)/2 ));
fi;
}
main $*
