ASCII files and different platforms
ASCII files differ among the various platforms. A Unix ASCII file
uses LF as an end-of-line. An MS-DOS ASCII file uses CRLF as an
end-of-line. Other systems use a CR only, or a 2 byte integer indicating
length followed by the characters comprising that line.
S/W packages assume they'll be reading platform-specific user
files. Problems occur when using MS-DOS ASCII files on Unix h/w & vice
versa. The programs provided here are file filters. They read an existing
file as input and create a new file from it. The filters here cover both
MS-DOS and Unix. The MS-DOS programs are executable files. MS-DOS is
universal.
In Unix, portability is an issue. Unix s/w here is Sun Sparc source
code. The Sun programs use calling module gcore.c and an application
module. Thus, creating an executable file means compiling gcore.c, the
desired application module, and then linking them.
Program usage is easy. The same rules apply to the Unix and MS-DOS
programs.The command line entry is:
program_name [path]input_file [path]output_file
Both MS-DOS and Unix programs perform file name checks. The
entered input file name is checked to see if it exists, and the ouptut
file name is checked to ensure it does NOT exist. The MS-DOS programs
accept an optional 3rd third parameter, std. That parameter will cause
the output file to have the same date-time stamp as the input file. The
MS-DOS programs also test for free disk space.
Unix modules: (Sun Sparc source code files)
gcore.c is the calling module.
mda2uxa.c is an application module designed
to read an MS-DOS ASCII file and create a Unix ASCII file.
uxa2mda.c is an application module
designed to read a Unix ASCII file and create an MS-DOS ASCII file.
These 3 files are downloadable as c programs via zip file
um_conv.zip.
MS-DOS programs: (MS-DOS executable files)
mda2uxa.exe reads an MS-DOS ASCII file &
creates a Unix ASCII file. uxa2mda.exe reads
a Unix ASCII file & creates an MS-DOS ASCII file.
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