less memo.txt question

Quest ion · 10-03-2011, 03:57 PM

When I type in the command "cat memo.txt", it displays the contents of the file in double spaced fashion.

When I try to remove those spaces by entering in "less memo.txt" , it removed the spaces between the lines of text, but at the end of each line is this, "^K".

To remove the "^K" what I ended up doing is make a new file called memo.new and typed the whole paragraph in by hand so then when I use the "less memo.new" it has no "^K" in it.

Is there a better way to accomplish this?

raconteur · 10-03-2011, 04:26 PM

^K is a vertical tab character. It is (in my observation) rarely used in documents but you've obviously found one of them.

You should be able to see the character when 'cat'-ing the file if you use the -b option for cat.

Removing it with vi or vim is pretty simple:

Code:

vi -b memo.txt

:g/<ctrl>v<ctrl>k/s///g

<ctrl>v allows you to enter an escaped character (such as <ctrl>k)

Obviously, don't type the text "<ctrl>whatever" but press the ctrl key and the specified character.

The best answer is, of course, modify the editor (human or otherwise) that created the file to avoid vertical tabs.

Quest ion · 10-03-2011, 04:39 PM

Thanks! that helped alot! How do I exit from that file now though, I have tried ctrl c and d but to no avail....

Nylex · 10-03-2011, 04:41 PM

In vim, you probably want ":wq" to write and quit. If you're using less, then just pressing "q" will quit.

raconteur · 10-03-2011, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quest ion

Thanks! that helped alot! How do I exit from that file now though, I have tried ctrl c and d but to no avail....

You're welcome.

Use vi's standard write-and-quit key sequences to exit.
Press the colon key then wq.

If the file is read-only or has other permissions issues, you may need to extend the sequence by forcing a write first.
To do that, :w!, then :q

Quest ion · 10-03-2011, 04:46 PM

Ah! Thanks!