---
name: "git-column"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "git"
version: "2.56.0-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/git-column"
---

# git-column(1)

Display data in columns

## NAME

git-column - Display data in columns

## SYNOPSIS

```
git column [--command=<name>] [--[raw-]mode=<mode>] [--width=<width>]
             [--indent=<string>] [--nl=<string>] [--padding=<n>]
```

## DESCRIPTION

This command formats the lines of its standard input into a table with multiple columns. Each input line occupies one cell of the table. It is used internally by other git commands to format output into columns.

## OPTIONS

- \--command=\<name\>

  Look up layout mode using configuration variable column.\<name\> and column.ui.

- \--mode=\<mode\>

  Specify layout mode. See configuration variable column.ui for option syntax in [**git-config**(1)](/git-config/1.md).

- \--raw-mode=\<n\>

  Same as --mode but take mode encoded as a number. This is mainly used by other commands that have already parsed layout mode.

- \--width=\<width\>

  Specify the terminal width. By default *git column* will detect the terminal width, or fall back to 80 if it is unable to do so.

- \--indent=\<string\>

  String to be printed at the beginning of each line.

- \--nl=\<string\>

  String to be printed at the end of each line, including newline character.

- \--padding=\<N\>

  The number of spaces between columns. One space by default.

## EXAMPLES

Format data by columns:

```
$ seq 1 24 | git column --mode=column --padding=5
1      4      7      10     13     16     19     22
2      5      8      11     14     17     20     23
3      6      9      12     15     18     21     24
```

Format data by rows:

```
$ seq 1 21 | git column --mode=row --padding=5
1      2      3      4      5      6      7
8      9      10     11     12     13     14
15     16     17     18     19     20     21
```

List some tags in a table with unequal column widths:

```
$ git tag --list 'v2.4.*' --column=row,dense
v2.4.0  v2.4.0-rc0  v2.4.0-rc1  v2.4.0-rc2  v2.4.0-rc3
v2.4.1  v2.4.10     v2.4.11     v2.4.12     v2.4.2
v2.4.3  v2.4.4      v2.4.5      v2.4.6      v2.4.7
v2.4.8  v2.4.9
```

## CONFIGURATION

Everything below this line in this section is selectively included from the [**git-config**(1)](/git-config/1.md) documentation. The content is the same as what’s found there:

column.ui

Specify whether supported commands should output in columns. This variable consists of a list of tokens separated by spaces or commas:

These options control when the feature should be enabled (defaults to *never*):

**always**

always show in columns

**never**

never show in columns

**auto**

show in columns if the output is to the terminal

These options control layout (defaults to *column*). Setting any of these implies *always* if none of *always*, *never*, or *auto* are specified.

**column**

fill columns before rows

**row**

fill rows before columns

**plain**

show in one column

Finally, these options can be combined with a layout option (defaults to *nodense*):

**dense**

make unequal size columns to utilize more space

**nodense**

make equal size columns

column.branch

Specify whether to output branch listing in **git** **branch** in columns. See **column.ui** for details.

column.clean

Specify the layout when listing items in **git** **clean** **-i**, which always shows files and directories in columns. See **column.ui** for details.

column.status

Specify whether to output untracked files in **git** **status** in columns. See **column.ui** for details.

column.tag

Specify whether to output tag listings in **git** **tag** in columns. See **column.ui** for details.

## GIT

Part of the [**git**(1)](/git/1.md) suite