Original question abbreviated
> I need to string edit (sed) text files without losing null characters. The
> "file" command says they are ascii text, but diff reports them as binary.
> When I edit the file with vi, it reports null characters, and when I write
> the file, they are lost. I have obtained nvi, which preserves the null
> characters, as "^@", and I am told textedit preserves them as well.
>
> How do I sed the text without losing null characters?
Solutions were sent in the same batch of mail as my request...
..... amazing list.
use perl to create new file,
perl -p -e "s/^A/B/" file > newfile
or, to do the replacement in-place in the same file:
perl -i -p -e "s/^A/B/" file
or another suggestion,
perl -ne 's/^A/B/;print;' file > newfile
use gnu sed, (pkgadd format from http://smc.vnet.net/solaris_2.5.html)
gnused 's/^A/B/' file > newfile
Thanks to
Gene Rackow <rackow@mcs.anl.gov>
Davin Milun <milun@cs.Buffalo.EDU>
Michael Maciolek <mikem@centerline.com>
Daniel Kluge <danielk@tibco.com>
Seth Rothenberg <SROTHENB@montefiore.org>
and those whose replies are still on their way, thanks again.
jwf
John W. Funk, P.Eng voice: 905-829-5028
CAD/CAM & Unix Consultants Inc. fax: 905-829-0517
P.O. Box 61024, Maple Grove P.O. email: jwf@ccuc.on.ca
Oakville, Ontario, Canada L6J 7P5
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