On Wed, 2005-11-30 at 06:42, Paul Smith wrote:
> >
> > cat --squeeze-blank inputfilename -> outputfilename
>
> Thanks, Tim and Paul. Paul's method does not mysteriously work:
>
> $ more file1.txt
> word1
>
>
>
> word2
>
> word3
> $ more -s file1.txt > file2.txt
> $ more file2.txt
> word1
>
>
>
> word2
>
> word3
> $
>
> Tim's way works partially, i.e., many blank lines are in effect
> erased, but some remain. I suspect that the left blank lines are not
> blank lines although they look like blank lines. Can one go further
> with deleting the left "false" blank lines?
In vi:
:%s/^[ ]*$//
That says for the range of all lines, substitute any number of white
spaces (there's a space and tab inside the []'s) filling from the
beginning (^) and end ($) of the line with nothing.
If you don't like the results, hit 'u' (undo).
then
1G!Gcat -s
which says filter the range from the first through last line through
the command cat -s and replace the buffer with the results.
Again, if you don't like the results, hit 'u'. Repeat until
you get it right.
--
Les Mikesell
lesmikesell@xxxxxxxxx
