DOKK / manpages / debian 12 / flip / flip.1.en
FLIP(1) Linux Programmer's Manual FLIP(1)

flip, toms, toix - do newline conversions between **IX and MS-DOS

flip -h
flip [ -umvtsbz] file ...
flip [ -umvtsbz] -
toix [ -vtsbz] file ...
toms [ -vtsbz] file ...

flip is a file interchange program that converts text file formats between **ix and MS-DOS. It converts lines ending with carriage-return (CR) and linefeed (LF) to lines ending with just linefeed, or vice versa. If the special argument "-" is given, input is read from stdin and written to stdout.

flip has the following features:

flip will normally refuse to convert binary files. You can override this.

When asked to convert a file to the same format that it already has, flip causes no change to the file. Thus to convert all files to **IX format you can type



                    flip -u *

and all files will end up right, regardless of whether they were in MS-DOS or in **IX format to begin with. This also works in the opposite direction.

If a file contains isolated CR characters for underlining or overprinting, flip does not change them.

flip preserves file timestamps. You can override this.

flip preserves file permissions.

flip is written in C and will compile and run under MS-DOS/Turbo C, 4.3BSD, and System V.

flip accepts wildcards and multiple filenames on the command line.

If a user interrupt aborts flip, it does not leave behind any garbage files or cause corruption of the files being converted.

When converting from MS-DOS to **IX format, flip removes any trailing control Z (the last character in the file), but leaves embedded control Z characters unchanged. This minimizes the possibility of accidentally converting a binary file that contains a control Z near the beginning. You can override this and ask flip to recognize the first control Z found as end-of-file.

flip can be asked to strip the high (parity) bit as it converts a file.

flip is normally invoked as:



               flip -umhvtb file ...
One of -u, -m, or -h is required. Switches may be given separately or combined together after a dash. For example, the three command lines given below are equivalent: 


               flip -uvt *.c


               flip -u -v -t *.c


               flip -u -vt *.c

On systems that allow a program to know its own name, flip may be renamed (or linked) to a file called toix for conversion to **IX format, or to a file called toms for conversion to MS-DOS format. When invoked with the name toix or toms, flip will act as if it were invoked with the -u or -m option respectively.

Convert to **IX format (CR LF => LF, lone CR or LF unchanged, trailing control Z removed, embedded control Z unchanged).
Convert to MS-DOS format (lone LF => CR LF, lone CR unchanged).
Give a help message.
Be verbose, print filenames as they are processed.
Touch files (don't preserve timestamps).
Strip high bit.
Convert binary files too (else binary files are left unchanged).
Truncate file at first control Z encountered.

Rahul Dhesi <dhesi@bsu-cs.bsu.edu>.

unix2dos(1), dos2unix(1).

July 20, 2002 Linux 2.0