FLIP

NAME

SYNOPSIS

flip -umvtsbz file ...  

DESCRIPTION

Flip is a file interchange program that converts or filters text file formats between **IX and MS-DOS. It converts lines ending with carriage-return (CR) and linefeed (LF) to lines ending with just linefeed, or vice versa.

Flip has the following features.

o

If a file contains isolated CR characters for underlining or overprinting, flip does not change them.

o

When asked to convert a file to the same format that it already has, flip causes no change to the file. Thus to convert all files to **IX format you can type

flip -u *.* (under MS-DOS)

flip -u * (under **IX)

and all files will end up right, regardless of whether they were in MS-DOS or in **IX format to begin with. This also works in the opposite direction.

o

Flip preserves file timestamps. You can override this.

o

Flip is written in C and will compile and run under MS-DOS/Turbo C, 4.3BSD, and System V.

o

Flip accepts wildcards and multiple filenames on the command line.

o

If a user interrupt aborts Flip, it does not leave behind any garbage files or cause corruption of the files being converted.

o

Flip will normally refuse to convert binary files. You can override this.

o

When converting from MS-DOS to **IX format, flip removes any trailing control Z (the last character in the file), but leaves embedded control Z characters unchanged. This minimizes the possibility of accidentally converting a binary file that contains a control Z near the beginning. You can override this and ask flip to recognize the first control Z found as end-of-file.

o

Flip can be asked to strip the high (parity) bit as it converts a file.

o

Flip will act as a filter if no files are specified.

Flip is normally invoked as:

flip -umhvtb file ...

One of -u, -m, or -h is required. Switches may be given separately or combined together after a dash. For example, the three command lines given below are equivalent:

flip -uvt *.c

flip -u -v -t *.c

flip -u -vt *.c

The meanings of the switches are as follows.

-u

convert to **IX format (CR LF => LF, lone CR or LF unchanged, trailing control Z removed, embedded control Z unchanged)

-m

convert to MS-DOS format (lone LF => CR LF, lone CR unchanged)

-h

give a help message

-v

be verbose, print filenames as they are processed

-t

touch files (don't preserve timestamps)

-s

strip high bit

-b

convert binary files too (else binary files are left unchanged)

-z

truncate file at first control Z encountered

On systems that allow a program to know its own name, flip may be renamed (or linked) to a file called toix (or toix.exe under MS-DOS) for conversion to **IX format, or to a file called toms (or toms.exe under MS-DOS) for conversion to MS-DOS format. When invoked with the name toix or toms, flip will act as if it were invoked with the -u or -m option respectively.  

COPYRIGHT

Note: This software has not been endorsed by the Free Software Foundation, the creator of the GNU license, and I am not affiliated with that organization.  

AUTHOR

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