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authorPaul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu>2005-07-11 18:20:34 +0000
committerPaul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu>2005-07-11 18:20:34 +0000
commitbc4268f8d62277e304071d53af93321f0ba2fb92 (patch)
treefbc3d96e1d95486d17eee8cbbdf9ced78250e3d9 /doc
parent1ee7165eba92fe48acc0c85776cf3464e3fcd60d (diff)
downloadcoreutils-bc4268f8d62277e304071d53af93321f0ba2fb92.tar.xz
(cat invocation): Remove -B or --binary option
(available on MS-DOS-like platforms only). Explain when text and binary mode are used now. (md5sum invocation): -b actually does have an effect on Unix: it causes "*" to be output. Explain when text and binary mode are used now.
Diffstat (limited to 'doc')
-rw-r--r--doc/coreutils.texi68
1 files changed, 27 insertions, 41 deletions
diff --git a/doc/coreutils.texi b/doc/coreutils.texi
index 8c421d39e..5168f40e3 100644
--- a/doc/coreutils.texi
+++ b/doc/coreutils.texi
@@ -1209,32 +1209,11 @@ The program accepts the following options. Also see @ref{Common options}.
@opindex --show-all
Equivalent to @option{-vET}.
-@item -B
-@itemx --binary
-@opindex -B
-@opindex --binary
-@cindex binary and text I/O in cat
-On MS-DOS and MS-Windows only, read and write the files in binary mode.
-By default, @command{cat} on MS-DOS/MS-Windows uses binary mode only when
-standard output is redirected to a file or a pipe; this option overrides
-that. Binary file I/O is used so that the files retain their format
-(Unix text as opposed to DOS text and binary), because @command{cat} is
-frequently used as a file-copying program. Some options (see below)
-cause @command{cat} to read and write files in text mode because in those
-cases the original file contents aren't important (e.g., when lines are
-numbered by @command{cat}, or when line endings should be marked). This is
-so these options work as DOS/Windows users would expect; for example,
-DOS-style text files have their lines end with the CR-LF pair of
-characters, which won't be processed as an empty line by @option{-b} unless
-the file is read in text mode.
-
@item -b
@itemx --number-nonblank
@opindex -b
@opindex --number-nonblank
-Number all nonblank output lines, starting with 1. On MS-DOS and
-MS-Windows, this option causes @command{cat} to read and write files in
-text mode.
+Number all nonblank output lines, starting with 1.
@item -e
@opindex -e
@@ -1244,25 +1223,20 @@ Equivalent to @option{-vE}.
@itemx --show-ends
@opindex -E
@opindex --show-ends
-Display a @samp{$} after the end of each line. On MS-DOS and
-MS-Windows, this option causes @command{cat} to read and write files in
-text mode.
+Display a @samp{$} after the end of each line.
@item -n
@itemx --number
@opindex -n
@opindex --number
-Number all output lines, starting with 1. On MS-DOS and MS-Windows,
-this option causes @command{cat} to read and write files in text mode.
+Number all output lines, starting with 1.
@item -s
@itemx --squeeze-blank
@opindex -s
@opindex --squeeze-blank
@cindex squeezing blank lines
-Replace multiple adjacent blank lines with a single blank line. On
-MS-DOS and MS-Windows, this option causes @command{cat} to read and write
-files in text mode.
+Replace multiple adjacent blank lines with a single blank line.
@item -t
@opindex -t
@@ -1276,7 +1250,7 @@ Display TAB characters as @samp{^I}.
@item -u
@opindex -u
-Ignored; for Unix compatibility.
+Ignored; for @acronym{POSIX} compatibility.
@item -v
@itemx --show-nonprinting
@@ -1284,12 +1258,18 @@ Ignored; for Unix compatibility.
@opindex --show-nonprinting
Display control characters except for LFD and TAB using
@samp{^} notation and precede characters that have the high bit set with
-@samp{M-}. On MS-DOS and MS-Windows, this option causes @command{cat} to
-read files and standard input in DOS binary mode, so the CR
-characters at the end of each line are also visible.
+@samp{M-}.
@end table
+On systems like MS-DOS that distinguish between text and binary files,
+@command{cat} normally reads and writes in binary mode. However,
+@command{cat} reads in text mode if one of the options
+@option{-bensAE} is used or if @command{cat} is reading from standard
+input and standard input is a terminal. Similarly, @command{cat}
+writes in text mode if one of the options @option{-bensAE} is used or
+if standard output is a terminal.
+
@exitstatus
Examples:
@@ -3023,11 +3003,13 @@ The program accepts the following options. Also see @ref{Common options}.
@opindex -b
@opindex --binary
@cindex binary input files
-Treat all input files as binary. This option has no effect on Unix
-systems, since they don't distinguish between binary and text files.
-This option is useful on systems that have different internal and
-external character representations. On MS-DOS and MS-Windows, this is
-the default.
+Treat each input file as binary, by reading it in binary mode and
+outputting a @samp{*} flag. This is the inverse of @option{--text}.
+On systems like @acronym{GNU} that do not distinguish between binary
+and text files, this option merely flags each input file as binary:
+the MD5 checksum is unaffected. This option is the default on systems
+like MS-DOS that distinguish between binary and text files, except
+for reading standard input when standard input is a terminal.
@item -c
@itemx --check
@@ -3070,8 +3052,12 @@ indicating there was a failure.
@opindex -t
@opindex --text
@cindex text input files
-Treat all input files as text files. This is the reverse of
-@option{--binary}.
+Treat each input file as text, by reading it in text mode and
+outputting a @samp{ } flag. This is the inverse of @option{--binary}.
+This option is the default on systems like @acronym{GNU} that do not
+distinguish between binary and text files. On other systems, it is
+the default for reading standard input when standard input is a
+terminal.
@item -w
@itemx --warn