Question

Removing Carriage Return

Asked by: ngujja

Hi All,
Below is my script to remove carriage return to convert DOS to unix file format.

*************************************************************************
#!/usr/bin/ksh

if [ $# -ne 1 ]
then
echo "Usage: $0 filename"
exit
fi

sed 's/.$//' $1 > tmp
mv tmp $1
chmod 755 $1

**************************************************************************
This script works fine. Please observe I remove the carriage return and create a new file called 'tmp'. Then I rename 'tmp' to the original filename.
Now I want to do all this in a single line command without having to create a tmp file.

For example:
sed 's/.$//' filename > newfile <---------unacceptable

Instead i want an alternative to the above script which can be done in a single line.

Thank Bunch
ngujja

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Asked On
2005-03-14 at 07:43:28ID21349874
Tags

carriage

,

return

,

remove

Topic

IBM AIX Unix

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
13

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Answers

 

by: griesshPosted on 2005-03-14 at 09:36:56ID: 13536945

Hi ngujja,

You may be able to keep the whole file in memory to some degree, but that has an end pretty soon. Files are sequential streams of data on a carrier and in order to remove/add data in the middle of it you have to write the content to a new file first.

Is this homework or have you ever considered installing the AIX DOS Utils? They would give you a dos2unix and unix2dos conversion :-)

======
Werner

 

by: ngujjaPosted on 2005-03-14 at 10:24:05ID: 13537349

Werner,
First It's not homework. I dont know what made you think it is.
Second the machine is remote and Iam just a user so cannot install utils. I did look for dos2unix, it's not there.

If you see the script I have accomplished what I need.

The reason Iam asking this is coz Iam writing a install document, where Iam assuming a normal user without dos2unix, without my script and without the ability to install utils should be able to run a setup script. The setup script for AIX was previously corrupted with carriage return (packaging issue, not in my domain), so Iam trying to find an easy way for the user to convert dos to unix.

I know this can be done redirecting output to temp file and renaming it to setup. It's a two step process, instead was wondering if this could be done in one line. Apparently it can't.

Thanks for tying to help.
ngujja

 

by: ngujjaPosted on 2005-03-14 at 11:13:22ID: 13537806

I want this question to be closed/deleted and points refunded, since there is no solution.

thanks
ngujja

 

by: griesshPosted on 2005-03-14 at 12:26:43ID: 13538517

No delay needed, a delete is OK

 

by: tfewsterPosted on 2005-03-14 at 15:11:43ID: 13540112

Not that it's any of my business - But Werner gave a valid answer with a good explanation (See last paragraph of http://www.experts-exchange.com/help.jsp#hi39 ) and the thread is worth saving.

Also, there may be better ways of doing the conversion - See http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Programming_Platforms/Unix_Programming/Q_21348774.html and especially Tintins technique at the end, to ensure unique filenames and only do the "mv" if conversion is successful.

 

by: esanchezvelaPosted on 2005-03-14 at 18:27:48ID: 13541231

I agree with tfewster, also among other possible solutions here is one using ex...

unix_prompt> cat ex_script
%s/.$//
wq

unix_prompt> ex - filename < ex_script

you could also use Perl, to read all the file in memory then replace the regex .\n for just \n and then save the file back to its original place. and so on and on...

regards,
esv.

 

by: ngujjaPosted on 2005-03-15 at 06:40:32ID: 13544813

Thanks experts

It was never my intention to be disrespectful to anyone in here. Iam trying to solve my problem that's all.

Regarding some suggestions left in the thread, thanks for that.

I exactly did'nt understand how ex can be used to solve this problem? Again I cannot use a script or utility for this.
I cannot use Perl, coz the file he is trying to convert might be big. This might lead the user to commit some errors.

Ideal situation is the user enters a one line command and voila the file is in unix format now.

Thanks
ngujja

 

by: tfewsterPosted on 2005-03-15 at 11:26:24ID: 13547879

I don't think anyone read or meant any disrespect - I thought Werners explanation was good, and being told "It can't be done" might save someone else hours of work trying to find a solution.  But then esanchezvela posted a method (we) had not thought of!

`ex` should be standard on all Unixen; I think it will still create a temporary working file, in /tmp or /var/tmp - which may be a problem if you are converting huge files and are short on space -  but `ex` cleans up after itself on exit.

You could embed it in your current script by replacing your sed/mv/chmod lines with:

ex - $1 << EOF
%s/.$//
wq
EOF

 

by: esanchezvelaPosted on 2005-03-15 at 11:36:42ID: 13548000


vi, vim and ex can be used for batch editing as well for interactive usage, I bet most of the time those three, specially vi and vim are used interactivly.

when you feed ex with a commands file using  "ex - [your_big_file_here] < [batch_commands]"

you are telling ex not to expect a tty like device and that it is supposed to work in [your_big_file_here] and it has to follow the directions provided in [batch_commands] filename.

sort of like sed but the edits are done in place and you can go back to the first line or wherever you want . ex will follow the commands you provide in the batch file.

for example, with these instructions I comment out some entries from /etc/inittab, that might cause problems on system restart after finishing a mksysb restore on our production environment....

1,\$global/ldap/s/\(^[^:]*\)/:\1/
1,\$global/jac/s/\(^[^:]*\)/:\1/
1,\$global/tsm/s/\(^[^:]*\)/:\1/
1,\$global/db2/s/\(^.*\)/:\1/
1,\$global/ora/s/\(^.*\)/:\1/
1,\$global/adsm/s/\(^.*\)/:\1/
1,\$global/rctma/s/\(^.*\)/:\1/
1,\$global/cron/s/\(^.*\)/:\1/
1,\$global/rclocal/s/\(^.*\)/:\1/
1,\$global/mysql/s/\(^.*\)/:\1/
1,\$global/suptools/s/\(^.*\)/:\1/
1,\$global/cdserv/s/\(^.*\)/:\1/
1,\$global/nfs/s/\(^.*\)/:\1/
wq


the /etc/inittab is not too big for sed but I wanted to do an inplace edit so, I followed the ex path and it works very nicely.

regads,
esv

 

by: ngujjaPosted on 2005-03-15 at 13:04:08ID: 13548926

Thanks esanchezvela and  tfewster for spending time on this.

The solution requires user to interact with shell, but I think I can expect the user to atleast type in commands. I can put this in script, but as I said script might not be available whereas a document might.

I guess I have to request not to close this question now ;-)

ngujja

 

by: griesshPosted on 2005-03-15 at 13:12:14ID: 13549019

As long as it solves the problem ... I only tried to answer the original question :-)

 

by: ngujjaPosted on 2005-03-15 at 13:25:32ID: 13549150

Appreciate everybody's contribution

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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