converting dos line endings to unix

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Level 2

309 points

converting dos line endings to unix

What is the simplest way a Macintosh user can convert a text file with DOS/Windows (CRLF) line endings to Unix/Mac (LF) using only the tools available in a standard OS X distribution?

In the command-line environment (Terminal), I don't see the old standard, dos2unix. And I don't see an option in TextEdit to specify which. More capable text editors, e.g., TextWrangler, have such an option, but I don't want to require the user to have to download anything more.

I want to share some Perl scripts I wrote with other Macintosh users. The scripts work on text files with Unix/Mac (LF) line endings, but the users' files on which the scripts operate may have DOS/Windows (CRLF) line endings. I want to tell them how to convert their files without having to install anything more.

Is that even possible? Seems like it should be.

MacBook Pro (17-inch Early 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Feb 22, 2015 5:36 AM

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Answer 1

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red_menace

Level 6

17,054 points

Feb 22, 2015 6:46 AM in response to Ken Nellis

Since you are already using Perl, why not use that? For example:

perl -pe 's/\r\n/\n/g' inputFile > outputFile

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Answer 2

Ken Nellis Author

Level 2

309 points

Feb 22, 2015 6:59 AM in response to red_menace

This is creative and helpful. Thank you! My (potential) users are unfamiliar with the command-line environment, so I'm interested in hearing alternatives that may appear less mysterious to novice users. But, your answer certainly meets the requirements!

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Answer 3

red_menace

Level 6

17,054 points

Feb 22, 2015 7:18 AM in response to Ken Nellis

I don't know what your workflows are, but you could do something like use an AppleScript to get and convert the files you are going to use, or just add statements to your existing perl scripts to do the conversion before proceeding with the rest of the script.

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Answer 4

Feb 22, 2015 9:44 AM in response to Ken Nellis

Using Automator, one can make a Desktop application that simulates dos2unix.

The Automator application shown here, will prompt the user to choose one or multiple (using command key) text files, and will then use Perl to process each file in-place, replacing the carriage return-line feed pairs with just a line feed. I tested this on a folder of text files where each file had more than 1 CRLF pair. Afterwards, there were only LF. The last thing this application does is slide out an OS X notification with processing status and number of files affected. I borrowed, and adapted the Perl block from Stack Overflow.