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https://github.com/lukesavefrogs/column_ansi
ANSI-friendly version of `column` (Perl version).
https://github.com/lukesavefrogs/column_ansi
ansi-colors bash column column-generation parsing perl shell text-processing
Last synced: 3 months ago
JSON representation
ANSI-friendly version of `column` (Perl version).
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/lukesavefrogs/column_ansi
- Owner: LukeSavefrogs
- License: mit
- Created: 2021-12-29T08:22:15.000Z (about 3 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2023-12-02T16:17:26.000Z (about 1 year ago)
- Last Synced: 2024-10-03T15:35:17.107Z (4 months ago)
- Topics: ansi-colors, bash, column, column-generation, parsing, perl, shell, text-processing
- Language: Shell
- Homepage:
- Size: 143 KB
- Stars: 12
- Watchers: 1
- Forks: 3
- Open Issues: 9
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
[](./LICENSE)
[](#contributors)
[](https://github.com/LukeSavefrogs/column_ansi/commits/main)
[](https://github.com/LukeSavefrogs/column_ansi/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue)
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# ANSI-compatible `column`: `column_ansi`
`Perl` version of `column` with support for ANSI color codes
## Syntax
```shell
column_ansi [-s SEPARATOR] [-o SEPARATOR] [-R COLUMNS] [-H COLUMNS] [-C COLUMNS]
column_ansi --help
```
## Options
```
-t, --table
Does nothing, was left for compatibility reasons. [DEFAULT]
-s SEPARATOR, --separator SEPARATOR
Specify the possible input item delimiters (default is whitespace).
-r SEPARATOR, --output-separator SEPARATOR
Specify the columns delimiter for table output (default is two spaces).
-R COLUMNS, --table-right COLUMNS
Right align text in the specified columns (comma-separated).
-H COLUMNS, --table-hide COLUMNS
Don't print specified columns. The special placeholder '-' maybe be used to hide all unnamed columns (see --table-columns).
IMPORTANT: The striked part of the description is still not implemented.
-C COLUMNS, --table-center COLUMNS
Center align text in the specified columns (comma-separated).
This option is not present in the original column command.
-h, --help
Display help text and exit.
```
## Features
- Support for **ANSI color** codes and characters (output is aligned)
- Same **syntax** and parameters as `column` (see `column_ansi --help` for more info)
- **Right, Left and even Center alignment** for every column (1-based)!
- Support for **hidden columns**
- Support for **quoted fields** and **escaped quotes** thanks to the `Text::ParseWords` module!
## TODO
- Improve [`CONTRIBUTING.md` file](CONTRIBUTING.md)
- Parse CLI parameters directly from the Perl file (_maybe the [`Getopts:Long`](https://metacpan.org/pod/Getopt::Long) package?_)
- Write **better tests** (maybe use a [testing framework](https://github.com/dodie/testing-in-bash)?) - _Work in progress..._
- Add option to **keep or skip empty lines** (right now it keeps them, which is different from the default behaviour of `column`);
- Add option to **remove colors** and control characters from the **output**;
- Make the choice of **right/center alignment _explicit_** (so that one cannot pass the same column index to both options)
- Update documentation with the description of the various **Environment Variables** used by the Perl script
- _Feel free to suggest anything in the [Issue](https://github.com/LukeSavefrogs/column_ansi/issues) section..._ 😃
## Description
I needed to format a very long awk-generated colored output (more than 300 lines) into a nice table.
I first thought of using `column`, but as i discovered it didn't take into consideration ANSI characters, since the output would come out not aligned.
After searching a bit on Google i found [this interesting answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/38762316/8965861) on SO which dynamically calculated the width of every single column in the output after removing the ANSI characters and THEN it built the table.
It was all good, but it was taking way too long to load... In the attached tests `test_column_ansi.sh` you will find that even for 2 lines `column2` (the one i found on SO) takes up to 2-3 seconds (which is a lot in comparison to the 0.0xx seconds of the original `column`)!
After trying out this version in my production script the time used to display data **dropped from 30s to <1s**!!
## Considerations
### Why not use `bash`?
Because each call to `bash`'s `read` is [very slow](https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/169765/348102).
## Screenshots
#### Comparison with `column` command
#### Help page
## Tests
In the following screenshot you can see (and try it yourself, by executing the attached `test_column_ansi.sh` script) 4 tests with the corresponding timings:
1. Original `column` command - WITH colors
The output is completely **out of alignment** because of the colors.
2. Original `column` command - WITHOUT colors
After removing the colors the output is shown **as expected**.
3. Custom `column2` command - By [@NORMAN GEIST](https://stackoverflow.com/users/5871407/norman-geist)
Output is shown **as expected** but is **very slow** compared to `column`.
4. Custom `column_ansi` command - By me
Output is shown **as expected** and the **time** needed to render is way **similar** to the original `column` one.
### Run tests
To run tests ensure to have [`shellspec` installed](./CONTRIBUTING.md#installing-shellspec), then launch the following command:
```shell
shellspec --format d
```
# Other projects
## NORMAN GEIST - `ccolumn`
Very spartan project written entirely in **Bash** which works but it is very slow... It is the project that led me to the `Perl` solution.
#### Pro
- Works without a bug (tested)
#### Cons
- Very slow since it uses Bash `read` command in a loop (see [this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/13764233/8965861) for more info)
### Links
- [Author](https://stackoverflow.com/users/5871407/norman-geist)
- [Project](https://stackoverflow.com/a/38762316/8965861)
## SandersJ16 - `ccolumn`
Very good project written entirely in **Bash** which has some similarities with the original `column` command, yet handles colors.
#### Pro
- Has both `fill by rows` and `fill by columns` options from the original `column` command;
- Allows to choose whether or not to print colors
- Has an option to print empty lines too
#### Cons
- Very slow since it uses Bash `read` command in a loop (see [this answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/13764233/8965861) for more info)
- Possibly slower than `column2` (not tested)
### Links
- [Author](https://github.com/SandersJ16)
- [Project](https://github.com/SandersJ16/Bash-Better-Column-Command)
## tecolicom - `App-ansicolumn`
ANSI terminal sequence aware column command written in Perl (_not tested_).
#### Pro
- Has both `fill by rows` and `fill by columns` options from the original `column` command;
- Good documentation
- Lots of additional options
#### Cons
_Not enough data_
### Links
- [Author](https://github.com/kaz-utashiro)
- [Project](https://github.com/tecolicom/App-ansicolumn)
## Contributors
Luca Salvarani
💻 📖 🚧 💬 👀 ⚠️
bartasha
💻 🐛 ⚠️
Lukas Willin
🐛 💻 ⚠️
Add your contributions