Topic: questions about .txt files...

[mikesalvo]

So, I am a Mac user. I use Textwrangler freeware to create the .txt files for my recordings. I noticed the other day when I brought one of my mac originated .txt files up on a PC, all of the text was on one line all the way across (yes, basically a whole shows worth of info/track names had moved to one line.

What format should I be saving my text files in, so they are compatable on mac and PC? I cant believe I am asking this after all these years, and I hope all of my previous text files dont need to be re-saved....

[DigiGal]

So, I am a Mac user. I use Textwrangler freeware to create the .txt files for my recordings. I noticed the other day when I brought one of my mac originated .txt files up on a PC, all of the text was on one line all the way across (yes, basically a whole shows worth of info/track names had moved to one line.

What format should I be saving my text files in, so they are compatable on mac and PC? I cant believe I am asking this after all these years, and I hope all of my previous text files dont need to be re-saved....

I've used both Text Edit (default) and Text Wrangler but have not experienced anything like what you described if viewing the .txt files on a PC but haven't checked in a while.

[thekhz]

LF = line feed character = \n
CR = carriage return character = \r
CRLF = carraige return plus line feed = \r\n

The reason that this happens is that on a Mac, the default line ending is the LF character. Windows Notepad, the default editor on Windows, expects lines to end with CRLF.  That is why opening a file saved with TextWrangler using Windows Notepad results in everything being displayed in a single line. This has nothing to do with word wrapping.

You can set TextWrangler to save files using the "Windows (CRLF)" line break format.

There's a new command on the Edit menu: "Document Options...". This lets you adjust the document's line breaks and text encodings as desired (and replaces the now-defunct Document Options popup that was in the tool bar).
http://www.barebones.com/support/textwrangler/notes_tw22.html

Mabye the setting is in Preferences now:

TextWrangler -> Preferences -> Text Files -> 'Default line breaks' to 'Windows (CRLF)'

Some smarter editors on Windows such as TextEdit are able to open files where lines end with LF.

[setboy]

I always try to save as plain text. it seems to save any trouble windows might have for whatever reason

[bhtoque]

It's not just a pc/mac problem. I have that happen when I open .doc pc files with notepad. It is all one line with a funny character that looks like a colon made from two little square bolcks where line breaks should be.

JAson

[Gordon]

as a pc user this happens to me a lot (with txt done on mac).  word warp doesn't help.  I right click > open with word pad and it shows correctly.  I can then copy it from word pad, open the text in notepad and paste it and it's correct.

[JasonSobel]

as a pc user this happens to me a lot (with txt done on mac).  word warp doesn't help.  I right click > open with word pad and it shows correctly.  I can then copy it from word pad, open the text in notepad and paste it and it's correct.

I do the exact same thing.  not just text files, but also md5 and FFP files that were created on a MAC.

[ashevillain]

Too bad Windows software isn't smart enough to decipher. Mac software has no problem deciphering Windows files. 

[Gordon]

Too bad Windows software isn't smart enough to decipher. Mac software has no problem deciphering Windows files. 

one could argue that if it formatted correctly in the first place then it wouldn't need to    I mean if you spend shit loads of $$ on a computer the textfiles should be universal right?

[rjp]

Except that text file end-of-line has never been universal. Old DEC operating systems like RT-11, RSX-11, and RSTS/E used CR/LF as end-of-line, and that was in turn adopted by CP/M, then MS-DOS, and finally Windows. Unix, as mentioned before, has always used LF only, while Apple has always used CR only (even on the old Apple II systems).

And then, of course, we're completely ignoring the issue of character sets (like EBCDIC on IBM mainframes vs. ASCII elsewhere, not to mention the rise of ISO-8859 and now Unicode).

[Gordon]

I was just giving cliff shit

[ashevillain]

I mean if you spend shit loads of $$ on a computer the textfiles should be universal right?

I agree. Especially for something as simple as a .txt file it should definitely be universal. It can't be that hard for the software developers to write the code to make it work both ways. It's probably a political issue between the two companies more than anything.

There are tons of other files that don't work both ways though...it's not just limited to .txt files. Nothing in MS Office works the same. Create an Excel file in Windows and view it on a Mac and the formatting will be messed up and vice versa. MS Word works both ways if only using simple formatting. In my opinion the Windows version of the Office Suite is superior to the Mac version. I know this is a tangent to the original question....sorry!

[if_then_else]

There's the tofrodos package on Unix which makes converting the carriage returns a bit easier.
You would have to compile the source files on Mac OS, though.

http://www.thefreecountry.com/tofrodos/

Alternatives: Use regular expressions (e.g. via perl or sed for replacing the incorrect carriage returns).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newline

[scb]

just open text files in windows in WordPad instead of NotePad

[mikesalvo]

just open text files in windows in WordPad instead of NotePad

this is true, but my concern for the format is more for other folks. People who DL my recordings, and whose computers will open w/ notepad by default.