Usando a opção -COLUMN
ou --columns=COLUMN
de pr
-COLUMN, --columns=COLUMN
output COLUMN columns and print columns down, unless -a is used.
Balance number of lines in the columns on each page
então
pr -t -2 yourfile
ou
pr -t --columns=2 yourfile
Por exemplo, aumentando suas entradas com algumas palavras de dicionário aleatórias,
$ cat << EOF | pr -t -2
> apple
> banana
> 'shuf -n28 /usr/share/dict/words'
> grape
> guava
> EOF
apple overachieves
banana wickerwork
cottonmouths supersonic
adapter's draftiest
boudoir's insisting
cruised programs
mousetrap parcel
shticks basically
TLC's coruscates
conduction Jones
geeing Ty
gloamings bondage
investing candelabra's
radiotherapists Inchon's
clasp's grape
critters guava