---
name: "col1"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "byobu"
version: "5.133-1.1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/col1"
---

# col1(1)

awk and print a column (based on the name of the program, 1-9)

## NAME

col1 .. col9, NF - awk and print a column (based on the name of the program, 1-9)

## SYNOPSIS

**col1 \[SEPARATOR\]**

## DESCRIPTION

**col1** is a simple script that conveniently splits and prints a given column, where the column to print is the name of the script program you're running (col1-col9).  col2-col9 are symlinks to col1; their behavior simply changes based on the name called.

**NF** can be used to print the last field.

The program takes one optional argument, the input field separator (whitespace, by default).

## EXAMPLES

Rather than:\
  mount \| awk '{print $3}'

Try:\
  mount \| col3

Instead of:\
  cat /etc/passwd \| awk -F":" '{print $7}'

You can just do:\
  cat /etc/passwd \| col7 :

Or\
  cat /etc/passwd \| NF :

## SEE ALSO

[**awk**(1)](/awk/1.md)

## AUTHOR

**This manpage and the utility was written by Dustin Kirkland \<kirkland@ubuntu.com\> for Ubuntu systems (but may be used by others).  Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU General Public License, Version 3 published by the Free Software Foundation.**

**On Debian systems, the complete text of the GNU General Public License can be found in /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL, or on the web at** *http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt***.**