Removing lines from files

[Guest_imported]

Hi..
I FTP'd a file from NT box to the UNIX box. The files have a CR/LF character which has been stripped off. There is an additional formfeed character in the file...Its just a collection of 3-4 blank lines. Actually, these lines look like a tab to me when I scroll down in the vi editor.

Can anyone suggest how to strip off these blank lines.

 

[RobJordan]

this isn't the answer to your question,
but did you do the ascii command before
you did a get or put duing ftp?

ex:
ftp hostname
ascii
put filename

Robert Robert G. Jordan

Robert@JORDAN2000.com

http://www.JORDAN2000.com

Unix Sys Admin
Chicago, Illinois U.S.A.

 

[Guest_imported]

Yes I did include the "ascii" command in the ftp script

Thanx

 

[mohand1]

type this in command mode in vi

:%s/^V^M//g

Basically your are removing the ctrl-M character from the file. You will have to type ctrl-V before typing ctrl-M.

Mohan

 

[KenCunningham]

Alternatively, if your machine supports dos2unix, use that:

dos2unix <orig_file> <new_file>

HTH.

 

[Guerra]

I would do it in two steps:

- precisely defining the undesirable characters, by using command od -c filename.

Depending on these characters, you´ll need to see them in octal or hexadecimal, so also consider the variants &quot;od -oc <filename>&quot; or &quot;od -xc <filename>&quot; .

- changing them for something more desirable, like spaces, using command tr.

For example, Microsoft´s end-of-lines are comprised of two bytes , carriage-return and new-line ( \r \n , octal \015\005 ). Changing the \r for space (octal \020) satisfies most of the cases , and the syntax below can do the thing :

tr &quot;\r&quot; &quot; &quot; <myfile
OR
tr &quot;\015&quot; &quot;\020&quot; <myfile

I suggest you to take a look at man tr , it has some other interesting features . Maybe -d , for example , will fit better your needs.

tr can perform several of the easiest tasks people normally relay to awk and sed, but it´s much easier to learn. Good for lazy or too-busy guys , like me... ;-)