unix2dos

unix2dos

unix2dos (sometimes named todos or u2d) is a Unix tool to convert an ASCII text file from Unix format (line break) to DOS format (carriage return and line break) and vice versa. When invoked as unix2dos the program will convert a Unix text file to DOS format, when invoked as dos2unix it will convert a DOS text file to UNIX format. [1]

The tofrodos package provides this functionality to Linux, Mac OSX, and can be downloaded for windows.[2]

Contents

Usage

unix2dos [-p] [file]
-p
Access and modification time of the original file are preserved.
file
File to convert

Alternatives to unix2dos conversion

Similar results can be achieved with different unix tools to change the trailing new line '\n' to combination of carriage return and new line characters '\r\n' for example with the sed or perl in-line editing:

perl -i -p -e 's/\n/\r\n/' file
sed -i -e 's/$/\r/' file

For opposite conversion (dos2unix) it is possible to alternatively use for example the utility tr to change a text file from Windows or OS X into a Linux text file by using the -d '\r' flag to remove carriage returns:

tr -d '\r' < file > file2
perl -i -p -e 's/\r//' file
sed -i -e 's/\r//' file

See also

References

  1. ^ A practical guide to Linux. Mark G. Sobell ISBN 0-13-147823-0 Page 55
  2. ^ "tofrodos". http://www.thefreecountry.com/tofrodos/. Retrieved 2009-10-05. 

External links

  • Tofrodos - software that provides dos2unix and unix2dos
Stub icon This Unix-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.