root@ucsfcca.UUCP (Computer Center) (02/28/86)
The American National Standrds Institute document ANSI X3.4-1977 titled "Code for Information Interchange" is the reference source for ASCII. There are items on page 10 (Line Feed and Carriage Return) and on page 17 (Interoperation of "LF" and "NL" ASCII Equipment). The page 10 entries clearly state that a single character "New Line" function should use the "Line Feed" character for this function, i.e. the existence of such a function is context dependent but if defined it is to use the hex 0A code. This is the convention that Unix uses for internal storage of text. In any case the "Carriage Return" has no standing as a "New Line" character. This is certainly appropriate since we need to use it on many printers for overstrike functions, e.g. underlining. Some brain damaged systems designed by people ignorant of the standard actually store both the "Carriage Return" and "Line Feed" within data files as a line break code, thereby wasting an average of 2 - 5 % of the file storage space and complicating the programs which deal with these files. The item on page 17 defines the combinations to be used in sending to mechanical devices so that the action produced will be consistent whether the device follows the "New Line" interpretation of code hex 0A or not. If conversions of the single character representation to a two (or more) character representation are desired this is appropriately done at the device driver level (and is universally available in Unix terminal port drivers). The writer who complained of getting standard representation in files transferred from Unix to another operating system has a deficient file transfer program for the environment (between two operating systems) in which it was used.
bill@dayton.UUCP (Bill Argyros) (03/11/86)
In article <444@ucsfcca.UUCP> root@ucsfcca.UUCP (Computer Center) writes: >... > >Some brain damaged systems designed by people ignorant of the standard >actually store both the "Carriage Return" and "Line Feed" within data >files as a line break code, thereby wasting an average of 2 - 5 % of >the file storage space and complicating the programs which deal with >these files. This is the best description of the IBM PC I have yet heard. -- UUCP: ihnp4!rosevax!dayton!bill Bill Argyros ATT : (612) 375-6651 Dayton Hudson Department Store Company 700 on the Mall Mpls, Mn. 55408