How do I identify this character in a file?

lucmove · 04-23-2021, 08:18 PM

I have a file that is a pair list with separators. The list was Ctrl + c copied from a Windows Registry key. I pasted the list into Notepad, saved the file with ANSI encoding and brought it to Linux.

I cannot identify the separator characters, but I have this:

Code:

$ od -c file.txt | head

0000000   a   l   t   e   r   a   c 343   o 001   a   l   t   e   r   a
0000020 347 343   o 002   a   l   t   e   r   a   c 365   e   s 001   a
0000040   l   t   e   r   a 347 365   e   s 002   b   r   a   z   i   l
0000060 001   B   r   a   z   i   l 002   c   a   t   a   l   g   o 001
0000100   c   a   t 341   l   o   g   o 002   c   i   r   c   u   n   t
0000120   a   n   c   i   a   s 001   c   i   r   c   u   n   s   t 342
0000140   n   c   i   a   s 002   c   l   e   n   t   e 001   c   l   i
0000160   e   n   t   e 002   c   o   n   f   i   g   u   r 347 343   o
0000200 001   c   o   n   f   i   g   u   r   a 347 343   o 002   c   o
0000220   n   f   i   g   u   r   a   c 343   o 001   c   o   n   f   i

The two separators are obviously 001 and 002. I'm sure of it because I can easily tell the words (in Portuguese) that they are separating.

Now I need to know what characters those separators are so I can produce them in a script and build a new list to be pasted back into the source.

My questions: what characters are those (give me the fish) and how does one find out exactly what characters they are in situations like this (teach me how to fish)?

TIA

pan64 · 04-24-2021, 04:08 AM

001 and 002 are not displayable chars (these are control chars). What is even worse: this is not a plain text file, but a binary.
You can obviously put these chars in a file, see for example here: https://www.unix.com/shell-programmi...cter-bash.html

shruggy · 04-24-2021, 06:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucmove

The list was Ctrl + c copied from a Windows Registry key. I pasted the list into Notepad, saved the file with ANSI encoding and brought it to Linux.

I'm not sure this would preserve the original encoding intact. I'd rather reg save on Windows, then copy the file to Linux and work with it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucmove

what characters are those

Code:

$ ascii 0o1 0o2
ASCII 0/1 is decimal 001, hex 01, octal 001, bits 00000001: called ^A, SOH
Official name: Start Of Header

ASCII 0/2 is decimal 002, hex 02, octal 002, bits 00000010: called ^B, STX
Official name: Start of Text

scasey · 04-24-2021, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shruggy

Code:

$ ascii 0o1 0o2
ASCII 0/1 is decimal 001, hex 01, octal 001, bits 00000001: called ^A, SOH
Official name: Start Of Header

ASCII 0/2 is decimal 002, hex 02, octal 002, bits 00000010: called ^B, STX
Official name: Start of Text

!! Flashback to debugging data flows over dedicated modems by analyzing the bits...