COLRM(1)

💖 NAME 💖

colrm — bestie's lil scissors for columns, aka remove columns from a file ✂️✨

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

colrm [first [last]]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so picture this: you've got a file, and some of the columns are just... not it. colrm removes selected columns from a file, no cap. 💅

• Input? standard input, always, she doesn't take a filename argument, she takes you piping things into her 🫶
• Output? standard output — so pipe away, redirect away, she's flexible like that 💜

Here's the tea on how the args work:

• Called with one parameter? Then the columns of each line get removed starting with the specified first column and just going all the way to the end of the line. Bye 👋
• Called with two parameters? Then the columns from the first column to the last column get removed — that whole chunk, gone, poof 💀

and the most important thing bestie, the one you're gonna forget, I already know it: column numbering starts with column 1. NOT zero. She's not like those other girls. 🌸

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

• -h, --help — display help text and exit 🥰 (she tells you about herself and dips)
• -V, --version — display version and exit 👑 (she tells you who she is and dips)

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📜 HISTORY 📜

The colrm command appeared in 3.0BSD. ancient. iconic. she's been doing this since before your fave was born 💀✨

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

Her besties, her mutuals, the whole friend group:

• awk(1p)
• column(1)
• expand(1)
• paste(1)

iykyk 💅

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🐛 REPORTING BUGS 🐛

Found a bug? NOT the vibe, but okay, we handle it. For bug reports, use the issue tracker:

https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues

go off, tell them everything, they'll fix it 🫶

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📦 AVAILABILITY 📦

The colrm command is part of the util-linux package, which can be downloaded from the Linux Kernel Archive:

https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/

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okay that's the whole page bestie, you're officially a colrm girlie now, go forth and delete some columns 🌈✂️

util-linux 2.42.4 · 2026-09-21 — mwah, love u, bye 💖🎀🦋