Collection of Tools & Utilities/Collection of Tools and Utilities.iso/tex/rtrim51.zip/RTRIM.DOC

Text File | 1991-12-06 | 23KB | 498 lines

                         RTRIM - VERSION 5.1


                          Author - Bob Keber

                           336 Swain Blvd.
                         Lake Worth, FL 33463
                           [phone]










                  Released To Public Domain - No Charge












                               DISCLAIMER

                    Use This Software At Your Own Risk

   The author of this software makes or offers no warranty, either
   expressed or implied, regarding any of the software programs included
   with this package. There is no warranty for this software's usefulness,
   or for it's fitness for any particular purpose. The author will not be
   liable for any damages arising from the use of (or from the inability
   to use) this software. The author will not be liable for lost profits,
   lost savings, lost income, lost time, claims by other parties, or for
   other incidental or consequential damages arising from the use of (or
   from the inability to use) this software. Use of this software is
   entirely at the user's own risk.

                           GETTING STARTED

                            COMMAND FORMAT

   FOR  "QUICK" RTRIM OPERATION: Enter one of the  following  commands
from any DOS or MS/DOS Screen Prompt......


RTRIM                 (Runs RTRIM with full screen menus & help)


RTRIM FileName.Ext    (Will Strip BLANKS from RIGHT END of text lines)

RTRIM FileName.Ext/H  (Trims RIGHT-BLANKS & Converts HI-BIT Characters)

RTRIM FileName.Ext/E  (Trims RIGHT-BLANKS & Removes "Escape Codes" such
                       as FORM FEEDS & END OF PAGE)

RTRIM FileName.Ext/H/E   (BLANKS, ESCAPE CODES & HI-BIT Characters)


    "FileName.Ext" represents the name of your TEXT file that you wish
to  have  RTRIM.EXE  work  on. For instance,  if  you  wanted  to  use
"RTRIM.DOC" as your input file, you would enter "RTRIM RTRIM.DOC".

    Unless  you specify another OUTPUT file name, the  DEFAULT  OUTPUT
file name will be "OUTPUT.TXT". The output file will contain a copy of
your original file, but with all of the changes you elected to perform
upon it. Your original file will be left unchanged and exactly the way
it  was to begin with.

    Always  check  over  your Output File VERY  carefully  BEFORE  you
replace  your  Original  with it. Make sure  that  "Charts",  "Boxes",
"Graphs", and so on, are as they should be, and that any "Page Offset"
insertion or removal has not effected the text in a negative manner.

    If  your Input File has ANY GRAPHIC CHARACTERS which you  wish  to
have  left alone (Boxes, Pictures, Drawings or Source Code  containing
any  Command Line Graphics), DO NOT tell RTRIM to  convert  HIGH-BITS.
RTRIM  will  happily convert ANY graphic character it  finds,  because
Graphics are HIGH-BIT characters too. This would leave you with  Boxes
shaped with M's, D's, and a host of other alphabet characters.

    FOR THE OTHER RTRIM OPTIONS: Enter the following command from  any
DOS or MS/DOS Screen Prompt....

                 RTRIM            <...and hit Enter>

     RTRIM.EXE  will then load and proceed to guide you through all  of
the various options with "on-screen" instructions and questions.

                         WHAT IS RTRIM.EXE ?

     It's  a  simple  little utility  for  "Adjusting"  and  "Changing"
different kinds of "TEXT" files to suit YOUR OWN needs.

     RTRIM   will "Trim" all of the Spacebars, Nulls, and Blank  Spaces
that  may   be  invisibly attached to the RIGHT end of  each  line  of
text,   or which may be invisibly hiding on many of the "Blank"  lines
within your text (also in any ASCII Source Code).

     This   feature will produce a copy of the original file which  (in
many  cases) is much smaller than the the original file. And yet,   it
does  this  without moving the original text's positions in the  file.
There  are  NO  apparent, VISIBLE differences between  the  two  files
except for the difference in sizes.


                     ADDITIONAL "OPTIONAL" FEATURES

 OPTION  #1 - INSTALL PAGE OFFSET - Has the ability to create up  to  a
nine  space "Left Margin" or  "Page  Offset"  in the new output  file.
This   allows  you  to punch holes for the use of binders  and  report
covers without covering up (or punching out) any of the text.


OPTION  #2 - REMOVE PAGE OFFSET - Has the ability to "Remove" a  "Page
Offset"  from any ASCII Text  file.  But be cautious, as this  routine
will ask you  "How  many Spaces"  it should remove from the left  side
(beginning)  of  each  line of  text.  If  you tell it to  remove  too
many spaces  (more  than  any existing offset), it will quickly remove
the  beginning characters from each  line of text too (in  the  output
file only - originals are  never changed at all).


OPTION   #3  -  REMOVE  EXCESSIVE BLANK LINES -  Has  the  ability  to
"Remove" excessive "Blank  Lines" from any ASCII Text file.

    I'm   sure that many of us have had the misfortune  to  innocently
begin  printing   someone's  "DOC"  file for some program,   only   to
sit   and impatiently watch as our printer spits out page  after  page
with  little  or  no text printed on them (eg:  "JOE'S  PROGRAM"   [65
linespaces]..., "VERSION   1"   [65   linespaces]...,  "A    SHAREWARE
PROGRAM"   [65 linespaces]...,  etc.). I swear, some of these  authors
must own stock in a paper mill (or in a Garbage Dump).

    This  option eliminates this problem by removing  all   successive
"Blank  Lines"  when  there are three (3) or more in a row.  It   will
allow   a  maximum  of two (2) blank lines together,  and  then  start
chopping  them out  of the text, thereby shortening the file (and  the
paper  required to print it out).


OPTION #4 - CONVERT HI-BIT WORDSTAR FILES - A feature that will  auto-
matically  reset the "High Bits" on any character that has  the  "High
Bit" set.

    The  above  statement  may  sound  "very  scary,  technical   and
complicated"  to   a  novice operator, so let me make  it  simpler  by
explaining what this routine is most often used for.

    If you use a Word Processing program (like Wordstar for  example),
you  may  find  that the text files look  something  like  an  "Arab's
Alphabet"  if  you  try  to  read  (or print)  those   files   WITHOUT
using the  Word Processor which created the files in the first place.

    This  kind  of  problem is especially tough if the  file  you  are
trying  to read  or print originally came from someone else,  and  YOU
DON'T   HAVE  their  brand of Word Processor (which  happens  on  many
dowloaded  files).

    Those  kind of TEXT files will appear a bit scrambled because  the
"High Bits" are set on the majority of the characters within the file.
Why?  Who  Knows?  But we assume that the folks  who  wrote  the  Word
Processing program (hopefully) had a good reason for doing things like
this.

    All  that  RTRIM.EXE  does is "Reset" the "Bits"  back  to  normal
again. It will NOT mess-around with any character who's bit is NOT set
to high, so it's safe to run any ASCII Text (NO GRAPHICS) file through
this routine. When RTRIM.EXE is done the copy of those files will then
look (and print) much the way the Author originally intended them to.


OPTION #5: "UN-JUSTIFY" A TEXT FILE -

    This  option  will  automatically remove all  those  "double"  and
"triple"  spacebars  that many  word processors insert into  lines  of
text to make each and every line the exact same length, and have every
line end on the exact same column.

    Originally  (when printed from inside of the word  processor which
created  them  -  with a printer capable of  printing  variable  sized
spacebars),  those extra spacebars are divided evenly between all  the
other  "normal" spacebars, each of which becomes slightly and  equally
larger to "justify" the line without all those obvious extra spaces.

    However,  when  the same file is converted to  a  "plain  vanilla"
ASCII  Text file, those extra spaces become "