I have stumbled upon a strange text file in an archive of an old dos game downloaded from some abandonware site.
The text file is named WHY_NOT.TXT. I assume the file is some sort of .NFO file from the group of people who ... um ... 'liberated' the game.
I had not much luck viewing the file using cat or less or even nfoview.
The question is: how can I view the content of the file as intended?
Output from nfoview:
Here is the output of cat and less. I use screenshots because I fear the encoding will get messed up more by the browser and the internets.
Output of file:
$ file WHY_NOT.TXT WHY_NOT.TXT: ISO-8859 text, with CRLF line terminators, with escape sequences Here is the file in raw hex dump created using xxd -p WHY_NOT.TXT:
1b5b34306d0d0a1b5b33396d1b5b34306d0d0a1b5b33396d1b5b34431b5b 303b33346ddb1b5b316ddbdfdfdfdfdfdf201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316d dbdfdfdfdfdfdb201b5b34346d201b5b34306ddbdfdfdfdfdfdb201b5b30 3b33346ddb1b5b316ddbdfdfdbdfdfdb201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316ddb 1b5b36431b5b34346d201b5b34306ddbdfdfdfdfdfdb201b5b303b33346d db1b5b316ddbdfdfdb201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316ddb201b5b303b3334 6ddb1b5b316ddbdfdfdfdfdfdc0d0a202020201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b31 6ddbdcdcdcdcdcdc201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316ddbdcdcdcdc1b5b3434 6ddc1b5b34306ddb201b5b34346d201b5b34306ddbdcdcdcdc1b5b34346d dc1b5b34306ddb201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316ddb201b5b303b33346ddb 1b5b316ddb201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316ddb201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b 316ddb1b5b36431b5b34346d201b5b34306ddbdcdcdcdc1b5b34346ddc1b 5b34306ddb201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316ddb201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b 316ddb201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316ddb201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316d db202020201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316ddb0d0a1b5b3130431b5b303b33 346ddc1b5b316ddb201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316ddb1b5b37431b5b3434 6d201b5b34306ddb202020201b5b303b33346ddc1b5b316ddb201b5b303b 33346ddb1b5b316ddb202020201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316ddb201b5b30 3b33346ddb1b5b316ddb1b5b36431b5b34346d201b5b34306ddb20202020 1b5b303b33346ddc1b5b316ddb201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316ddb201b5b 303b33346ddb1b5b316ddb201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316ddb201b5b303b 33346ddb1b5b316ddb202020201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316ddb0d0a2020 20201b5b303b33346ddc1b5b316ddcdcdcdcdc1b5b34346ddc1b5b34306d db201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316ddb1b5b37431b5b34346d201b5b34306d db202020201b5b34346d201b5b34306ddb201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316d db202020201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316ddb201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b31 6ddbdcdcdcdcdc201b5b34346d201b5b34306ddb202020201b5b34346d20 1b5b34306ddb201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316ddb201b5b303b33346ddb1b 5b316ddbdc1b5b34346ddc1b5b34306ddb201b5b303b33346ddb1b5b316d dbdcdcdcdc1b5b34346ddc1b5b34306ddf0d0a1b5b306d1b5b323535440d 0a You can recreate the original file by copying that string to a file and then use xxd -r -p filename. Here is the md5sum to be really sure that you have the identical original file: e64665b3f6e5fb3ec71c8fbf6cc63875
