On Tue, 2004-07-20 at 19:25, Robert Locke wrote: > On Tue, 2004-07-20 at 21:39, Olga wrote: > > No in vi and nano I do not see anything. But in gedit I see the following > > (for example) > > > > 1 Mike > > 2 John > > 3 Adam > > 4 > > > > The above is an example of what a file looks like with lines numbered. > > (numbers are not actually part of the file). I want the file to be only 3 > > lines long (as an example); however, what I get is 4 lines where line 4 is > > an empty line. I can eliminate only using mc (F4). In nano, vim, vi it is > > invisible, but in gedit (gui editor) it shows what I displayed above. I > > can backspace after 4, it bring me to Adam, but when I save the file and > > reopen it, the output is exactly the same as I am showing now (empty line > > 4 stays). > > > > Let's try a different approach.... > > After you save the file in whichever editor, can we confirm that it > actually has the "four lines" or really just has "three lines"? > > How about running "wc -l filename" and see how many lines it reports... > This will help to confirm for you whether the file truly has the blank > line, or is just a visual construct of the editor. ---- You have a classic half full / half empty paradigm going here. The point is that a large number of editors will add a LF to the end of the file when it saves it. Thus, it doesn't put anything on the '4th' line in this example, it only makes sure that line 3 ends with a LF character. Whether you want to say that this file has 4 lines or 3 lines is really a subjective matter. It definitely has 3 lines, each of them ending with a LF character. Craig
