Re: [MacPerl] Re: Newlines

[Richard Rathe <rrathe@dean.med.ufl.edu>]

On 10/12/97 Mark F. Murphy wrote:

>>Just what you said, convert it to Mac CR (\015) instead of UNIX LF (\012).
>>Most text editors do this, along with gobs of other utilities, and you can
>>make a MacPerl droplet to do it as well:
>
>Well... I was hoping I didn't have to translate the files first.  I was
>kinda hoping MacPerl would work with either transparently.

I still find it amazing that Perl is non-portable BY DESIGN!?! The concept
of end-of-line is so universal, I fail to understand why this problem isn't
"taken care of" behind the scenes...

On 10/12/97 Chris Nandor wrote:

>Nope.  This isn't a good idea.  What if you wanted embedded \012 characters
>in your MacPerl script?

... But doesn't the same problem crop up after you've done the conversion
with a text editor? I'd much rather work around the exceptions (the need
for weird characters in my files) than the rule (MacPerl blind to every
UNIX script in existence!) Another example is the directory delimiter. What
harm would be done if MacPerl automatically changed '/' to ':' and back
again when it works on directories and files?

Don't get me wrong, I like Perl and I think MacPerl is a godsend. This is a
question, not a flame. <smile>

Thanks, RR

PS to Matthias: Maybe the MacPerl editor could prompt the user and then
convert text files brought over from UNIX and that 'other' OS....

__________________________________________________________________________
  Richard Rathe, MD                       mailto:rrathe@dean.med.ufl.edu
  University of Florida                  http://www.med.ufl.edu/medinfo/  



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