Getting a text file rid of all superfluous blank lines

James Wilkinson fedora at westexe.demon.co.uk
Fri Dec 2 07:38:25 UTC 2005


Paul Smith wrote:
> So many ways of solving my problem show that this list is quite creative!

Actually, it shows something more fundamental. It shows (one reason) why
Unix is so powerful.

Both Linux and html came from the Unix tradition of text-based input
and output wherever possible, and *good* tools for manipulating text.
That files, input and output are text mean that we can understand them
fairly easily. That we have good tools to manipulate text means we can
take text-based output, massage it, and use it as input. And this is
incredibly powerful yet still pretty straightforward.

But this is not an accident. It's the way the system is supposed to
work. It means *you* can control and work with the facilities on your
computer, and script them how you want.

James.
-- 
E-mail address: james | "Now I've got the bead on you with MY disintegrating
@westexe.demon.co.uk  | gun.  And when it disintegrates, it disintegrates.
                      | (pulls trigger)  Well, what you do know,
                      | it disintegrated."  -- Daffy Duck




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