Forum Moderators: bakedjake
I have some data in the mysql database entered with a windows special character (I guess sloppiness of data operators).
When I export the data into text file and open it in windows (excel or word), it behaves like a new line symbol. When I look at it in a linux editor, it shows as underlined M\ symbol.
My question is: how to get rid of it so that I can open the txt file in windows?
A less decent text editor on unix will display the <return> characters as "^M" ("<control>M" is the convention for most unix terminals to enter the ASCII value of 0x0D). A less decent editor on Windows will display a file in unix convention all on one line, with something garbled where the lines were meant to break.
Btw: To add to the confusion, on the traditional Mac systems, line endings were marked with a <return> character alone, but I think that OS-X is leaning more towards the unix conventions.
Solution? Get a decent text editor!
On Windows, Wordpad does nicely, on unix (and elsewhere) I use vim myself, but that may not be suitable for the faint of heart... ;). I'm sure there are many other decent editors, just shop around. Of course, if one file mixes several conventions on seperate lines, then there's no solution. Such a file is simply broken.
To get rid of windows new line character:
% sed -e "s/^M//" filename > newfilename
To enter ^M, type CTRL-V, then CTRL-M. That is, hold down the CTRL key then press V and M in succession.
