COLRM(1)

📦 version 1.053, in alpine 3.24

💅 NAME 💅

colrm — bestie, this one literally just removes columns from a file ✂️✨

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

colrm [startcol [endcol]]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so picture this: colrm takes your standard input and chops the named columns out of each line (and yes, one column = one character, don't overthink it 🫶).

big important vibe check: column numbering starts at 1, not 0. not me almost crying over zero-indexing again 😭 literally do not come at it with programmer-brain numbering, she's a 1-based girlie.

  • if you only hand her startcol, she removes all the columns from startcol rightwards. everything. gone. to the end of the line. periodt 💀
  • if you give her both startcol and endcol, she removes all the columns from startcol to endcol, inclusive — so endcol gets got too, no cap 🔥
  • if you give her neither, she just... acts exactly like cat. iconic behavior honestly, zero notes, she's just passing your text through untouched 💖

✨ OPTIONS AND ARGUMENTS ✨

  • startcol — the first column to remove 👑 this is where the deleting begins.
  • endcol — the last column to remove 🎀 inclusive, babe, she's included in the carnage.

🧚 AUTHOR 🧚

Jeffrey S. Haemer — ty for your service, king 🫡💜

💀 BUGS 💀

ngl, she lacks the special-case handling of backspace and tab that got added in some other versions 😬 instead she acts just like the simpler Linux and SunOS versions. so if you were expecting fancy tab/backspace-aware behavior, that's a different girlie, not her 🙈

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

  • awk(1) — go say hi to the other text-processing legend 💫

that's the whole page, bestie — slay, stan, and remember: 1-based columns only 💅

signed, sealed, delivered by perl v5.42.2 on 2026-02-15 — she's dated, she's versioned, she ate 🎀🦋

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