Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 01:00:15 +0000 From: Mark Ovens <marko@uk.radan.com> To: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au> Cc: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: cleaning a text file Message-ID: <19990216010015.A190@localhost> In-Reply-To: <19990216002703.A337@localhost>; from Mark Ovens on Tue, Feb 16, 1999 at 12:27:03AM %2B0000 References: <19990215201056.19929@welearn.com.au> <Pine.BSF.3.91.990215010943.20451F-100000@dsinw.com> <19990216095232.J2207@lemis.com> <19990216103740.60271@welearn.com.au> <19990216002703.A337@localhost>
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On Tue, Feb 16, 1999 at 12:27:03AM +0000, Mark Ovens wrote: > On Tue, Feb 16, 1999 at 10:37:40AM +1100, Sue Blake wrote: > > > > The problem is that I don't know which funny characters exist in the > > file, if any. I want to find out what they are, so I can search for > > them and eyeball them before killing them. > > > > > > Just knowing which characters they are would give me many solutions > > immediately. There still doesn't seem to be a way to find this out :-( > > > > First you need to identify the offending characters. Use od(1) or > hexdump(1) to identify them and then work out a filter. > > Are they all extended ASCII (>127) chars? or are some of them > control (<32) chars?. You could possibly use awk(1) as a filter, > or write a simple C prog using issprint() and isspace(). > > HTH > As soon as I'd sent my previous message I remembered something. If you have (or can lay your hands on) a copy of The Unix Programming Environment by Kernighan & Pike you will find, starting on p172, this very problem addressed, complete with several (short) C code listings which give you the option to print the offending characters as octal codes or to strip them from the file. > > Maybe there's a long way... somehow put a line-feed after each character > > in the file (with sed?) and then sort it and look at the top and bottom > > of the sorted file. > > > > -- > > > > Regards, > > -*Sue*- > > > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message > > > > -- > FreeBSD - The Power To Serve http://www.freebsd.org > My Webpage http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~markov > _______________________________________________________________ > Mark Ovens, CNC Apps Engineer, Radan Computational Ltd. Bath UK > CAD/CAM solutions for Sheetmetal Working Industry > mailto:marko@uk.radan.com http://www.radan.com > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message > -- FreeBSD - The Power To Serve http://www.freebsd.org My Webpage http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~markov _______________________________________________________________ Mark Ovens, CNC Apps Engineer, Radan Computational Ltd. Bath UK CAD/CAM solutions for Sheetmetal Working Industry mailto:marko@uk.radan.com http://www.radan.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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