Re: [Help-nano] Altering DOS/Mac/Unix terminated text files

[Fergus Daly]

>>> If I use nano -N on a DOS file, then I see at the end of each and every 
>>> line a ^M.  Don't you see this?
>>  Yes I do.
>   But when using nano without you don't see thos ^M, right? So how come you 
> said  plain nano and nano -N behave the same?

I meant they behave the same in the sense that neither changes format on <SAVE 
and EXIT>.
They behave differently in that one displays the ^M on screen, the other does 
not. 

>   I still don't like to burden nano with format conversions.

That's absolutely fine!
Actually I greatly prefer the behaviours (both standard and with formatting 
options) of nano 1.3.4 and will carry on using it.
But of course more modern versions must reflect the originators preferences and 
priorities.
At least as a result of this interesting correspondence I know that 2.4.0 does 
not do format conversions; and that this behaviour is intentional rather than 
accidental.
Thank you again for this engagement with the issue and your very rapid and very 
clear responses.
Fergus  

-----Original Message-----
From: Benno Schulenberg [mailto:address@hidden 
Sent: 25 March 2015 14:14
To: Fergus Daly
Cc: address@hidden
Subject: Re: [Help-nano] Altering DOS/Mac/Unix terminated text files


Hello Fergus,

On Wed, Mar 25, 2015, at 09:04, Fergus Daly wrote:
> >> If I use nano -N on a DOS file, then I see at the end of each and 
> >> every line a ^M.  Don't you see this?
> Yes I do.

But when using nano without you don't see thos ^M, right?
So how come you said  plain nano and nano -N behave the same?

> How's this for an ambition for the next version?
> (And where should I go if I want to request it, do you know?)

You can go to https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=nano , hover on Bugs in the 
top bar and click "Submit new".
Then add [Request] in the subject line of your report.

> nano (no argument) = do not change format nano -U = if not Unix, 
> convert to Unix nano -D = if not DOS, convert to DOS nano -M = if not 
> Mac, convert to Mac

Options -D and -U have already been taken for --boldtext and --quickblank, so 
you would have to choose different ones.

> So in general things i.e. by default are left as they are but nano 
> does allow format changes.

I still don't like to burden nano with format conversions.
There are other tools for that.  Maybe you could take the same route as some 
distros take with 'less': they wrap it in a script that will detect various 
types of files and will then preprocess them before feeding them to 'less'.

Benno

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