FLIP(1)

NAME
flip - do newline conversions between **IX and MS-DOS

SYNOPSIS
flip -h

flip -umvtsbz file ...

DESCRIPTION

Flip is a file interchange program that converts 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.

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
Both this documentation and flip are Copyright 1989 Rahul Dhesi, all rights reserved. Permission is granted to copy, use, and distribute for any commercial or noncommercial purpose in accordance with the requirements of version 1.0 of the GNU General Public license.

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
Rahul Dhesi