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-
- FILT VERSION 1.0
- ----------------
- Copyright (c) 1988, 1989 by Borland International, Inc.
-
-
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
- -----------------
- 1. What is FILT?
- 2. Summary of Options
- 3. Descriptions of Options
-
-
- 1. WHAT IS FILT?
- ----------------
-
- FILT is a text-filter program that performs some low-level formatting and
- translation functions. As a filter, FILT does its input and output through
- the console device (CON). Input and output files must be specified with the
- DOS redirection commands. Here's the basic syntax:
-
- FILT options < input_file > output_file
-
- The options consist of single letters and are described below. The
- input_file and output_file, in conjunction with the redirection characters,
- < and >, tell DOS what files to use for input and output. If no input file
- is specified, the keyboard will be used. If no output file is specified, the
- screen will be used.
-
- The options are single, case-sensitive letters. Any number of options may be
- specified, and some of the options are followed by a number. All numbers are
- decimal and come immediately after the option letter (with no intervening
- spaces); numbers over 65,535 will cause an error.
-
-
- 2. SUMMARY OF OPTIONS
- ---------------------
-
- Note: # denotes number
-
- Tab Replacement
- ---------------
- x = expands tabs to spaces
- c = compresses spaces to tabs
-
- Tab Assignment
- --------------
- e = erases all tab stops
- t# = sets tab stop
-
- Character Replacement
- ---------------------
- S = strips high bits
- C = strips control chars
- H = strips high (>127) bytes
- U = all letters to uppercase
- L = all letters to lowercase
- A = capitalize words
-
- Line Format
- -----------
- m = adds left margin
- d = deletes left margin
- l# = truncates long lines
- r = removes trailing spaces
- b# = byte to end input lines
- s = saves carriage returns
-
- End of File
- -----------
- z = ignores ^Z in input
- Z = suppresses ^Z in output
-
- I/O Buffer
- ----------
- i# = input buffer size (20000)
- o# = output buffer size (20000)
-
-
- 3. DESCRIPTIONS OF OPTIONS
- --------------------------
-
- The following fully describes all options in alphabetical order (lowercase
- first):
-
- ? Help. Displays a summary of the options.
-
- b# Byte to end input lines. Defines the character that will identify an end
- of line (EOL). For instance, b13 will cause a line to be ended when a
- carriage return is reached. The default is b10. This option does not
- effect how EOL's will be written; they are always ended with a CR+LF
- combination.
-
- c Compresses spaces to tabs. When possible, spaces will be replaced by tab
- characters (ASCII 9). The default tab stops are every eight columns, but
- can be set manually with the e and t options.
-
- d# Deletes left margin. The specified number of characters will be deleted
- from the left side of all the lines. Any characters will be deleted.
- Note that tabs only count as one character.
-
- e Erases all tab stops. All tab stops will be erased. User-defined tab
- stops (set with the t option) should come after the e option.
-
- h Help. Displays a summary of the options.
-
- i# Input buffer size. Sets the size of the input buffer. The default is
- i20000. Making it larger might improve the processing rate for a slow
- input device, while making it smaller will use less memory.
-
- l# Truncate long lines. Lines longer than the specified length will be
- truncated. Normally any length lines (up to about 600 characters) are
- acceptable.
-
- m# Add left margin. The specified number of spaces will be added to the
- left margin.
-
- o# Output buffer size. Set the size of the output buffer. The default is
- o20000. Making it larger might improve the processing rate for a slow
- output device, while making it smaller will use less memory.
-
- s Saves carriage returns. All carriage returns (ASCII 13) are normally
- deleted from the input. This option might be useful in a file that
- contains line boundaries without carriage returns, but does contain
- carriage returns as some kind of special formatting code.
-
- r Removes trailing spaces. Any spaces (or tabs when using the c option)
- that come at the end of lines will be removed. Spaces at the end of
- lines, though superfluous, are often left over from word processors.
-
- t# Sets a tab stop. A tab stop will be set at the specified column number.
- The leftmost column is column one. Any number of tab stops can be
- specified. The default tab stops are every eight columns, i.e., t9
- t17 t25 etc.
-
- x Expands tabs to spaces. All tab characters (ASCII 9) will be replaced
- with an equivalent number of spaces. The default tab stops are every
- eight columns, but can be set manually with the e and t options.
-
- z Ignores ^Z in the input file. A ^Z (ASCII 26) normally identifies the
- end of a file. If this option is used, the full number of bytes recorded
- in the directory will be read.
-
- A Capitalize words. Letters that follow another letter will be converted
- to lowercase, all other letters will be converted to uppercase.
-
- C Strips control characters. All characters below ASCII 32 will be
- removed. The exceptions are the CR, LF, and Ctrl-Z characters.
-
- H Strips high bytes. All characters above ASCII 127 will be removed.
-
- L Converts all letters to lowercase.
-
- S Strips high bits. The high bit of all bytes above ASCII 127 will be
- cleared.
-
- U Converts all letters to uppercase.
-
- Z Suppresses ^Z in the output file. Normally a ^Z (ASCII 26) is written to
- the end of the file. If this option is used, a ^Z will not be written.
-
- The following are some examples of FILT option and file specifications:
-
- filt ?
- Displays a summary of all options to the screen.
-
- filt cr < data.fil > data.new
- Means: c = compress spaces to tab characters; r = remove trailing spaces.
- The input file is DATA.FIL and the output file is DATA.NEW. This
- combination of options may greatly reduce the size of a file by compressing
- or removing unnecessary spaces.
-
- filt zZCHi500o500 < a:text.xxx > c:\doc\text.txt
- Means: z = ignore any input ^Zs; Z = do not write a ^Z to the end of the
- file; C = remove all control characters; H = remove any characters with a
- value greater than 127; i500 = set the input buffer size to 500 bytes;
- o500 = set the output buffer size to 500 bytes. The input file is
- A:TEXT.XXX and the output file is C:\DOC\TEXT.TXT. This combination of
- options converts the input file into a pure ASCII file with no control
- characters (except for the line boundaries). Note that about 39,000 fewer
- bytes of memory are used during execution because of the buffer sizes,
- 500+500=1000 instead of the default 20000+20000=40000.
-