from man column(1) -c Output is formatted for a display columns wide. Try: almustafa@orphalese:~$ echo aaa bbb | column -c 20 expected result (17 spaces): aaa bbb actual result: almustafa@orphalese:~$ echo aaa bbb | column -c 20 aaa bbb Confusing. Or do I misunderstand the purpose of column(1)? Thanks.