Skip to main content
Unix & Linux

Return to Answer

Clarify where EOF is significant.
Source Link
Stephen Kitt
Stephen Kitt
  • 483.1k
  • 60
  • 1.2k
  • 1.4k

Character 26 is CtrlZ, the substitute character in ASCII, which is commonly used as the end-of-file marker in CP/M, DOS, and descendants. (CP/M doesn’t store exact file sizes in bytes, only in 128-byte blocks, so an explicit EOF marker is useful there; DOS did store exact file sizes so it doesn’t need EOF markers.)

Many tools developed for those operating systems will stop processing files when they encounter this character. So on a typical 80×25 DOS screen, with ANSI.SYS or equivalent,

TYPE yourfile.ans

would output the file to the screen, relying on ANSI.SYS to interpret the ANSI escapes, and stopping at the end-of-file marker, so the SAUCE records don’t appear on-screen.

Character 26 is CtrlZ, the substitute character in ASCII, which is the end-of-file marker in CP/M, DOS, and descendants. Many tools developed for those operating systems will stop processing files when they encounter this character. So on a typical 80×25 DOS screen, with ANSI.SYS or equivalent,

TYPE yourfile.ans

would output the file to the screen, relying on ANSI.SYS to interpret the ANSI escapes, and stopping at the end-of-file marker, so the SAUCE records don’t appear on-screen.

Character 26 is CtrlZ, the substitute character in ASCII, which is commonly used as the end-of-file marker in CP/M, DOS, and descendants. (CP/M doesn’t store exact file sizes in bytes, only in 128-byte blocks, so an explicit EOF marker is useful there; DOS did store exact file sizes so it doesn’t need EOF markers.)

Many tools developed for those operating systems will stop processing files when they encounter this character. So on a typical 80×25 DOS screen, with ANSI.SYS or equivalent,

TYPE yourfile.ans

would output the file to the screen, relying on ANSI.SYS to interpret the ANSI escapes, and stopping at the end-of-file marker, so the SAUCE records don’t appear on-screen.

added 99 characters in body
Source Link
Stephen Kitt
Stephen Kitt
  • 483.1k
  • 60
  • 1.2k
  • 1.4k

Character 26 is CtrlZ, the substitute character in ASCII, which is the end-of-file marker in CP/M, DOS, and descendants. Many tools developed for those operating systems will stop processing files when they encounter this character. So on a typical 80×25 DOS screen, with ANSI.SYS or equivalent,

TYPE yourfile.ans

would output the file to the screen, relying on ANSI.SYS to interpret the ANSI escapes, and stopping at the end-of-file marker, so the SAUCE records don’t appear on-screen.

Character 26 is CtrlZ, which is the end-of-file marker in CP/M, DOS, and descendants. Many tools developed for those operating systems will stop processing files when they encounter this character. So on a typical 80×25 DOS screen, with ANSI.SYS or equivalent,

TYPE yourfile.ans

would output the file to the screen, relying on ANSI.SYS to interpret the ANSI escapes, and stopping at the end-of-file marker, so the SAUCE records don’t appear on-screen.

Character 26 is CtrlZ, the substitute character in ASCII, which is the end-of-file marker in CP/M, DOS, and descendants. Many tools developed for those operating systems will stop processing files when they encounter this character. So on a typical 80×25 DOS screen, with ANSI.SYS or equivalent,

TYPE yourfile.ans

would output the file to the screen, relying on ANSI.SYS to interpret the ANSI escapes, and stopping at the end-of-file marker, so the SAUCE records don’t appear on-screen.

Source Link
Stephen Kitt
Stephen Kitt
  • 483.1k
  • 60
  • 1.2k
  • 1.4k

Character 26 is CtrlZ, which is the end-of-file marker in CP/M, DOS, and descendants. Many tools developed for those operating systems will stop processing files when they encounter this character. So on a typical 80×25 DOS screen, with ANSI.SYS or equivalent,

TYPE yourfile.ans

would output the file to the screen, relying on ANSI.SYS to interpret the ANSI escapes, and stopping at the end-of-file marker, so the SAUCE records don’t appear on-screen.