Re: [MacPerl] deleting a line again

[Paul Schinder <schinder@pobox.com>]

At 3:36 PM -0800 2/8/00, george rosenberg wrote:
>let me explain further, what I am probably trying to ask:
>almost always, the line i want to remove is the first line in the 
>file and it begins with a ">".
>i want to remove this line and then close the file.
>
>is it possible to do this? is there a delete line command, that will 
>remove the line and not leave a empty line behind?

No, as Matthias says, this is not how file systems work.  (You see 
lines in a file, you're computer sees bytes on a disk.)  What you're 
trying to do is a Perl FAQ, and the best way to learn how to do it is 
to read the FAQ. 
<http://www.perl.com/pub/doc/manual/html/pod/perlfaq5.html>

>
>thanks
>
>
>
>>  >i would like to use Macperl to remove a single line from a "big
>>>bunch" of files without leaving a blank line behind.  is it possible
>>>to do this without rewriting the whole file? is there a command or
>>>short code that can do this once the line has been indentified?
>>
>>Sorry, no, that's not how file systems work (When I was young, even 
>>the concept
>>of being able to jump to an arbitrary position in an open file was
>>revolutionary :-)
>>
>>Matthias
>>
>>--
>>Matthias Neeracher   <neeri@iis.ee.ethz.ch> 
>>http://www.iis.ee.ethz.ch/~neeri
>>   "And that's why I am going to turn this world upside down, and make
>>    of it a fire so *bright* that someone real will notice"
>>                                 -- Vernor Vinge, _Tatja Grimm's World_
>
>--

--
Paul Schinder
schinder@pobox.com

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