---
title: cli text
subtile: how to format text on the cli using various methods
abstract: unix text tips that don't have their own page
---

extract urls
------------

`egrep -o 'https?://[^ ]+' file`

column
------

### format in neat columns

`column -t -s" "`

before:

```
Lorem ipsum
dolor sit
amet consectetur
adipiscing elit
```

after:

```
Lorem       ipsum
dolor       sit
amet        consectetur
adipiscing  elit
```

line numbers
------------

`nl`

before:

```
Lorem ipsum
dolor sit
amet consectetur
adipiscing elit
```

after:

```
1 Lorem ipsum
2 dolor sit
3 amet consectetur
4 adipiscing elit
```

split into smaller files
------------------------

`split -l2 file`

Defaults to 1000 lines and files xaa, xab, xac...

before:

```
Lorem ipsum
dolor sit
amet consectetur
adipiscing elit
```

after:

```
Lorem ipsum
dolor sit
```

```
amet consectetur
adipiscing elit
```

See also
--------

* [awk](howto_awk.html)
* [grep](howto_grep.html)