---
name: "pmie2col"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "pcp"
version: "7.2.2-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pmie2col"
---

# pmie2col(1)

convert pmie output to multi-column format

## NAME

**pmie2col** - convert pmie output to multi-column format

## SYNOPSIS

**pmie2col** \[**-?**\] \[**-d** *delimiter*\] \[**-p** *precision*\] \[**-w** *width*\]

## DESCRIPTION

**pmie2col** is a simple tool that converts output from [**pmie**(1)](/pmie/1.md) into regular column format.  Each column is 7 characters wide (by default, may be changed with the **-w** option) with a single space between columns. That single space can be substituted with an alternate delimiter using the **-d** option (this is useful for importing the data into a spreadsheet, for example).

The precision of the tabulated values from **pmie** can be specified with the **-p** option (default is 2 decimal places). This option can and will override any width setting in order to present the requested precision.

The [**pmie**(1)](/pmie/1.md) configuration must follow these rules:

- (1)

  Each [**pmie**(1)](/pmie/1.md) expression is of the form \`\`NAME = expr;''. NAME will be used as the column heading, and must contain no white space, although special characters can be escaped by enclosing NAME in single quotes.

- (2)

  The \`\`expr'' must be a valid [**pmie**(1)](/pmie/1.md) expression that produces a singular value.

In addition, [**pmie**(1)](/pmie/1.md) must be run with the **-v** command line option.

It is also possible to use the **-e** command line to [**pmie**(1)](/pmie/1.md) and output lines will be prefixed by a timestamp.

## OPTIONS

The available command line options are:

- **-d** *char*, **--delimiter**=*char*

  Use *char* as output delimiter.

- **-p** *N*, **--precision**=*N*

  Use *n* as output floating point precision.

- **-w** *N*, **--width**=*N*

  Use *n* as output column width.

- **-?**, **--help**

  Display usage message and exit.

## EXAMPLES

Given this [**pmie**(1)](/pmie/1.md) configuration file *(config)*:

```
loadav = kernel.all.load #'1 minute';
'%usr' = kernel.all.cpu.user;
'%sys' = kernel.all.cpu.sys;
'%wio' = kernel.all.cpu.wait.total;
'%idle' = kernel.all.cpu.idle;
'max-iops' = max_inst(disk.dev.total);
```

Then this command pipeline:

```
$ pmie -v -t 5 <config | pmie2col -w 8
```

Produces output like this:

```
   loadav     %usr     %sys     %wio    %idle max-iops
     0.21        ?        ?        ?        ?        ?
     0.36     0.49     0.03     0.18     0.29    25.40
     0.49     0.41     0.10     0.36     0.13    51.00
     0.69     0.49     0.10     0.05     0.37    43.20
     0.71     0.39     0.08     0.04     0.49    14.00
     0.83     0.63     0.15     0.00     0.21    32.30
     1.09     0.60     0.02     0.10     0.27    47.00
     0.92     0.01     0.00     0.00     0.99     2.40
```

## PCP ENVIRONMENT

Environment variables with the prefix **PCP\_** are used to parameterize the file and directory names used by PCP. On each installation, the file */etc/pcp.conf* contains the local values for these variables. The **$PCP\_CONF** variable may be used to specify an alternative configuration file, as described in [**pcp.conf**(5)](/pcp.conf/5.md).

## SEE ALSO

[**PCPIntro**(1)](/PCPIntro/1.md) and [**pmie**(1)](/pmie/1.md).