GNU bug report logs - #67626
column with -t and piped extends a single line file into multiple lines

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Remigiusz Suwalski <remigiusz.suwalski <at> protonmail.ch>
To: "bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org" <bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org>
Subject: column with -t and piped extends a single line file into multiple
 lines
Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2023 16:43:53 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Hi,
today I have discovered accidentally that column utility behaves oddly when piped to another command, as shown on example below. I am not sure whether this is a bug or intended behaviour.

First "column" built from sources (commit https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/util-linux/util-linux.git/commit/?id=94feb5a20d23904cc15cd857c4e00f35f495116c):
$ echo '_ __ ___ ________ __________ ________' | ./column -t | nl # strange
1 __
2 ___
3 ___
4 _________
5 __________
6 _______
$ echo '_ __ ___ ________ __________ ________' | ./column -t > file.txt # the same issue as above

$ echo '_ __ ___ ________ __________ ________' | ./column -t # expected
_ __ ___ ________ __________ ________

A workaround that works sometimes (on this and some other but not all inputs) is to pass -c 0 option:
$ echo '_ __ ___ ________ __________ ________' | ./column -t -c 0 | nl # expected
1 _ __ ___ ________ __________ ________

Separate binary built from parent commit 3949a48dd1351cea7c523fe97666190359247630 behaves well:

$ echo '_ __ ___ ________ __________ ________' | ./column -t | nl1 _ __ ___ ________ __________ ________

If it matters, the output of "tput cols" command is 252, operating system is Ubuntu 22.04.3 and my locale is as follows:
LANG=C.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=
LC_CTYPE="C.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="C.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="C.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="C.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="C.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="C.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="C.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="C.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="C.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="C.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="C.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="C.UTF-8"LC_ALL=

Best regards,
Leon Suwalski

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #8 received at 67626 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: Remigiusz Suwalski <remigiusz.suwalski <at> protonmail.ch>,
 67626 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#67626: column with -t and piped extends a single line file
 into multiple lines
Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2023 17:08:19 +0000

tag 67626 notabug
close 67626
stop

On 04/12/2023 16:43, Remigiusz Suwalski via GNU coreutils Bug Reports wrote:
> Hi,
> today I have discovered accidentally that column utility behaves oddly when piped to another command, as shown on example below. I am not sure whether this is a bug or intended behaviour.
> 
> First "column" built from sources (commit https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/util-linux/util-linux.git/commit/?id=94feb5a20d23904cc15cd857c4e00f35f495116c):
> $ echo '_ __ ___ ________ __________ ________' | ./column -t | nl # strange
> 1 __
> 2 ___
> 3 ___
> 4 _________
> 5 __________
> 6 _______


Bugs for column(1) should go to:

      E-MAIL: util-linux <at> vger.kernel.org
      Web:    https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues

cheers,
Pádraig

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