EOL

Version 1.1

EOL – A text file converter

 

 

EOL (End Of Line) version 1.1 converts English text files among Windows, Macintosh and Unix (Linux) formats. It detects the format of each text file automatically.

 

Before using EOL, please read the WARNING about binary files in the Using  EOL - General topic below.

 

EOL is Copyright ©2006 by Ron Charlton. EOL may be distributed per its freeware license.

Using EOL – General                                                                            

Starting EOL

To start EOL, click Start»Programs»EOL»EOL. This assumes you accepted the default installation setup.

 

Using EOL

 

Figure 1

 

Text File Formats

EOL will convert English Windows, Mac and Unix (Linux) text files to any of the three formats. EOL determines each file's line ending format automatically. Each file must contain only one line ending format.

 

Selecting Files for Conversion

To convert one or more files, select a Drive (See Figure 1) where the file(s) reside. Select a Folder by double-clicking a folder name. Files in the selected folder will be displayed to the right of the Folder list.

 

Click a file to select it for conversion. You can Ctrl+click (press and hold the Ctrl key while clicking a file) to select multiple files. Shift+click will select a range of files. The Select All button will select all files. The Unselect All button unselects all files.

 

You can select files using wild cards. The wild card characters are * and ?. * will match any number (including zero) of characters in a file name; ? will match exactly one character. All other characters match themselves, ignoring upper/lower case differences. * and ? may be used more than once. Press the Enter key or Tab key to update the file list. In figure 1, *.txt selected all files ending with .txt. ???.txt will select all three-character file names with txt as the extension.

 

Binary Files

WARNING: Do not select files that are binary. EOL will damage binary files beyond repair. A very limited list of Windows binary files is those that end with .EXE, .DOC, .PDF, .JPG, .MPG, .DLL, .ZIP, as well as many others. You must not convert binary files with EOL. A reasonable (but not perfect) guideline is: If you can read (not just open) all of a file with Notepad or other text editor, it is probably not a binary file and can be converted with EOL.

 

EOL attempts to detect binary files and warn against converting them. EOL can not always detect whether a file is binary or text: Some text files may contain diacritic letters or other characters, such as ©, that will make EOL flag the file as binary. (EOL considers a file having one or more characters with a code of 0 to 7, 14 to 31, or 128 to 255 to be a binary file.)  Worse, true binary files may not be flagged as such by EOL. Just as you don't drive carelessly because you know you are wearing a seatbelt, you must not select files carelessly and trust EOL to prevent damage.

 

You must be the final arbiter of whether a file is text or binary. Do not select files that are true binary. YOU HAVE BEEN TWICE WARNED.

 

If – in spite of your careful choice of files – a binary file (as defined by EOL) is encountered during conversion, you will be warned that converting the file could damage it beyond repair. You will be asked whether to proceed with the file. You must click one of

 

·         Yes

·         Yes to All Binary

·         No

·         No to All Binary

·         Cancel

 

You should click Yes or Yes to All Binary only if you know the file(s) is truly a text file mistakenly flagged as binary by EOL. Diacritic letters will cause EOL to flag a file as binary. These occur frequently in some non-English language text files. If you answer Yes to All Binary or No to All Binary, binary files will be converted accordingly, until all selected files have been visited. In any case, non-binary files (i.e., text files) will be processed until all selected files have been visited, unless Cancel is clicked. Clicking Cancel skips all remaining files.

 

Converting Files

Three radio buttons at the right of the EOL window determine the resulting text file format: Windows, Mac or Unix (Linux). Only one format can be selected at a time.

 

After selecting a Convert To format, click the Convert button to convert the file or files. Each converted file replaces its original file. A progress indicator updates after every 100 lines. The progress indicator has a Cancel button to stop conversion of the current file. The original file will remain unchanged if Cancel is clicked, and you will be asked if you want to continue with any remaining selected files. You must answer Yes or No. Files containing a few hundred or a few thousand lines will typically be converted so fast that you may not see the progress indicator.

 

If a file to be converted is the same format as the Convert To format, it will be skipped.

Using EOL – Menus                                                                                       

EOL has three menus and four menu items:

 

·         File

o       Exit - closes (ends) EOL

·         View

o       Show ToolTips - shows or hides ToolTips (A ToolTip is a small label that is displayed when the mouse pointer is held over a control for a set length of time, usually containing a description of what the control does.)

·         Help

o       Help Contents - shows EOL help (this help)

o       About - Shows EOL's version, author and copyright

Using EOL – Buttons                                                                                     

EOL has four buttons:

 

·         Select All - selects all files in the file list for conversion

·         Unselect All - unselects all files in the file list

·         Convert - converts all selected files to the specified text file format

·         Exit - closes (ends) EOL

Limitations                                                                                                       

EOL can convert files of about 2 billion or fewer bytes.

 

If the last line in a Windows or Mac file has no newline, EOL will add one. Typically, the last line in a text file has a newline.

Uninstalling EOL                                                                                             

Be sure to close EOL and its help before uninstalling it so all EOL files can be removed from your computer.

 

You can uninstall EOL by using Add or Remove Programs in the Windows® Control Panel.

License                                                                                                             

EOL is copyright ©2006 by Ron Charlton. You may freely distribute its unmodified setup file. You shall not distribute EOL or any of its component files by any means other than its provided setup file.

 

You shall not charge anything other than a nominal media fee for distributing EOL's setup file.

Author                                                                                                               

Ron Charlton

9002 Balcor Circle

Knoxville, TN 37923-2301 USA

 

Phone: (865)694-0800

Email: Ron Charlton <charltoncr at comcast dot net>

Web Site: http://home.comcast.net/~charltoncr/

Credits                                                                                                               

·         EOL was developed with Microsoft Visual Studio Visual Basic®.

·         EOL's help was created with HelpNDoc (free for personal use).

History                                                                                                               

·         v1.1 (2006-05-07) - First public release

 

Document last Revised: 3/7/2008 5:54:06 PM

 

Get EOL                                                                                                            

Get EOL (EOLSetup.zip, 1.231 MB)