diff --git a/man/man1/col.1 b/man/man1/col.1
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0d9513c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/man1/col.1
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+.TH COL 1
+.SH NAME
+col \- column alignment
+.SH SYNOPSIS
+.B col
+[
+.B -bfx 
+]
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+.I Col
+overlays lines to expunge reverse line feeds
+(ESC-7)
+and half line feeds (ESC-9 and ESC-8)
+as produced by
+.I nroff
+for .2C in
+.IR ms (6)
+or
+.IR man (6)
+and for 
+.IR tbl (1).
+.I Col
+is a pure filter.
+It normally emits only full line feeds;
+option 
+.B -f
+(fine) allows half line feeds too.
+Option 
+.B -b
+removes backspaces, printing just one of each pile of overstruck
+characters.
+.I Col
+normally converts white space to tabs;
+option
+.B -x
+overrides this feature.
+Other escaped characters and non-printing characters are ignored.
+.SH EXAMPLES
+.TP
+.L
+tbl file | nroff -ms | col | p
+Format some tables for printing on typewriters;
+use
+.I col
+to remove reverse line feeds, and 
+paginate the output.
+.SH SOURCE
+.B \*9/src/cmd/col.c
+.SH SEE ALSO
+.IR pr (1)
+.SH BUGS
+.I Col
+can't back up more than 128 lines or
+handle more than 800 characters per line,
+and understands
+.L VT
+(013) as reverse line feed.
diff --git a/src/cmd/col.c b/src/cmd/col.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5897e17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cmd/col.c
@@ -0,0 +1,295 @@
+/* col - eliminate reverse line feeds */
+#include <u.h>
+#include <libc.h>
+#include <ctype.h>
+#include <bio.h>
+
+enum {
+	ESC	= '\033',
+	RLF	= '\013',
+
+	PL	= 256,
+	LINELN	= 800,
+
+	Tabstop	= 8,		/* must be power of 2 */
+};
+
+static int bflag, xflag, fflag;
+static int cp, lp;
+static int half;
+static int ll, llh, mustwr;
+static int pcp = 0;
+
+static char *page[PL];
+static char *line;
+static char lbuff[LINELN];
+static Biobuf bin, bout;
+
+void	emit(char *s, int lineno);
+void	incr(void), decr(void);
+void	outc(Rune);
+
+static void
+usage(void)
+{
+	fprint(2, "usage: %s [-bfx]\n", argv0);
+	exits("usage");
+}
+
+void
+main(int argc, char **argv)
+{
+	int i, lno;
+	long ch;
+	Rune c;
+
+	ARGBEGIN{
+	case 'b':
+		bflag++;
+		break;
+	case 'f':
+		fflag++;
+		break;
+	case 'x':
+		xflag++;
+		break;
+	default:
+		usage();
+	}ARGEND;
+
+	for (ll=0; ll < PL; ll++)
+		page[ll] = nil;
+
+	cp = 0;
+	ll = 0;
+	mustwr = PL;
+	line = lbuff;
+
+	Binit(&bin, 0, OREAD);
+	Binit(&bout, 1, OWRITE);
+	while ((ch = Bgetrune(&bin)) != Beof) {
+		c = ch;
+		switch (c) {
+		case '\n':
+			incr();
+			incr();
+			cp = 0;
+			break;
+
+		case '\0':
+			break;
+
+		case ESC:
+			c = Bgetrune(&bin);
+			switch (c) {
+			case '7':	/* reverse full line feed */
+				decr();
+				decr();
+				break;
+
+			case '8':	/* reverse half line feed */
+				if (fflag)
+					decr();
+				else
+					if (--half < -1) {
+						decr();
+						decr();
+						half += 2;
+					}
+				break;
+
+			case '9':	/* forward half line feed */
+				if (fflag)
+					incr();
+				else
+					if (++half > 0) {
+						incr();
+						incr();
+						half -= 2;
+					}
+				break;
+			}
+			break;
+
+		case RLF:
+			decr();
+			decr();
+			break;
+
+		case '\r':
+			cp = 0;
+			break;
+
+		case '\t':
+			cp = (cp + Tabstop) & -Tabstop;
+			break;
+
+		case '\b':
+			if (cp > 0)
+				cp--;
+			break;
+
+		case ' ':
+			cp++;
+			break;
+
+		default:
+			if (!isascii(c) || isprint(c)) {
+				outc(c);
+				cp++;
+			}
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+
+	for (i=0; i < PL; i++) {
+		lno = (mustwr+i) % PL;
+		if (page[lno] != 0)
+			emit(page[lno], mustwr+i-PL);
+	}
+	emit(" ", (llh + 1) & -2);
+	exits(0);
+}
+
+void
+outc(Rune c)
+{
+	if (lp > cp) {
+		line = lbuff;
+		lp = 0;
+	}
+
+	while (lp < cp) {
+		switch (*line) {
+		case '\0':
+			*line = ' ';
+			lp++;
+			break;
+		case '\b':
+			lp--;
+			break;
+		default:
+			lp++;
+			break;
+		}
+		line++;
+	}
+	while (*line == '\b')
+		line += 2;
+	if (bflag || *line == '\0' || *line == ' ')
+		cp += runetochar(line, &c) - 1;
+	else {
+		char c1, c2, c3;
+
+		c1 = *++line;
+		*line++ = '\b';
+		c2 = *line;
+		*line++ = c;
+		while (c1) {
+			c3 = *line;
+			*line++ = c1;
+			c1 = c2;
+			c2 = c3;
+		}
+		lp = 0;
+		line = lbuff;
+	}
+}
+
+void
+store(int lno)
+{
+	lno %= PL;
+	if (page[lno] != nil)
+		free(page[lno]);
+	page[lno] = malloc((unsigned)strlen(lbuff) + 2);
+	if (page[lno] == nil)
+		sysfatal("out of memory");
+	strcpy(page[lno], lbuff);
+}
+
+void
+fetch(int lno)
+{
+	char *p;
+
+	lno %= PL;
+	p = lbuff;
+	while (*p)
+		*p++ = '\0';
+	line = lbuff;
+	lp = 0;
+	if (page[lno])
+		strcpy(line, page[lno]);
+}
+
+void
+emit(char *s, int lineno)
+{
+	int ncp;
+	char *p;
+	static int cline = 0;
+
+	if (*s) {
+		while (cline < lineno - 1) {
+			Bputc(&bout, '\n');
+			pcp = 0;
+			cline += 2;
+		}
+		if (cline != lineno) {
+			Bputc(&bout, ESC);
+			Bputc(&bout, '9');
+			cline++;
+		}
+		if (pcp)
+			Bputc(&bout, '\r');
+		pcp = 0;
+		p = s;
+		while (*p) {
+			ncp = pcp;
+			while (*p++ == ' ')
+				if ((++ncp & 7) == 0 && !xflag) {
+					pcp = ncp;
+					Bputc(&bout, '\t');
+				}
+			if (!*--p)
+				break;
+			while (pcp < ncp) {
+				Bputc(&bout, ' ');
+				pcp++;
+			}
+			Bputc(&bout, *p);
+			if (*p++ == '\b')
+				pcp--;
+			else
+				pcp++;
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+void
+incr(void)
+{
+	int lno;
+
+	store(ll++);
+	if (ll > llh)
+		llh = ll;
+	lno = ll % PL;
+	if (ll >= mustwr && page[lno]) {
+		emit(page[lno], ll - PL);
+		mustwr++;
+		free(page[lno]);
+		page[lno] = nil;
+	}
+	fetch(ll);
+}
+
+void
+decr(void)
+{
+	if (ll > mustwr - PL) {
+		store(ll--);
+		fetch(ll);
+	}
+}