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Re: OFF: Re: viewing binary files



Brandon Mitchell <bhmit1@mail.wm.edu> writes:

> I often make a script called my.reset that simply echo's ^O (letter o).
> If this attachment worked right, then you should be able to use it without
> any problem.  Fyi, ^O puts the terminal back into text mode which is the
> only problem I've ever had after reading a binary.

Um... That's not _quite_ correct.  Ctrl/O shifts to the primary
character set, which is usually the right one.  (The escape sequences
necessary to change the primary char. set are rather unlikely to
appear in a binary file, but they can happen - especially if, for
example, the binary was of a program that did a lot of screen
manipulation)  I always go with outputting <esc>-c, which resets the
terminal (and ends up clearing the screen too; oh well).

I think the keyboard HOWTO has all sorts of information like this.

(The reason it's so common to need the ^O fix is that to get the
terminal to switch to the secondary character set (which starts out on 
well-behaved terminals as the graphics set) one only needs to send the 
terminal a ^N; assuming characters are evenly distributed in a binary, 
it gives a binary file about a one-in-two chance of leaving the screen 
in a messed-up state).


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