Identifying and removing null characters in UNIX

Posted by fahdshariff on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by fahdshariff
Published on 2010-03-07T23:12:33Z Indexed on 2010/03/08 7:21 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 297

Filed under:

unix

|

shell-scripting

|

null

|

special-characters

I have a text file containing unwanted null characters. When I try to view it in I see ^@ symbols, interleaved in normal text. How can I:

a) Identify which lines in the file contains null characters? I have tried grepping for \0 and \x0, but this did not work.

b) Remove the null characters? Running strings on the file cleaned it up, but I'm just wondering if this is the best way?

Thanks

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about unix

polkit: disable all users except those in group wheel?

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
Is it possible to do the following using 1 polkit .pkla file? Disable all users except those in the wheel group from using polkit. The users in the wheel group will need to provide the root password when using polkit. /etc/polkit-1/localauthority/50-local.d/wheel-only.pkla [disable all users… >>> More
How to find other end of unix socket connection?

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I have a process (dbus-daemon) which has many open connection over UNIX sockets. One of these connections is fd #36: =$ ps uw -p 23284 USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND depesz 23284 0.0 0.0 24680 1772 ? Ss 15:25 0:00 /bin/dbus-daemon --fork… >>> More
Meaning of directories on Unix and Unix like systems

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I've been using Linux for a couple of years now but I still haven't figured out what the origin or meaning of some the directory names are on Unix and Unix like systems. E.g. what does etc stand for or var? Where does the opt name come from? And while we're on the topic anyway. Can someone give a… >>> More
Easy understanding of UNIX and UNIX shell scripting!!

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi All, I am beginner to UNIX,UNIX Shell Scripting. Can you please guide me through any excellent sites for unix(which are easy to understand),some study materials(tutorials),video tutorials. Please help!! Thanks! >>> More
Is Mac OS X a licensed Unix or Unix-like clone that conforms to Unix specification?

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Is Mac OS X developed on a licensed Unix or is it a Unix-like clone that, unlike Linux, conforms to Unix specification well enough to be registered as a Unix OS. Not until Leopard, Mac OS X did not gain the Unix certification. But in Leopard, Terminal still print: GNU bash, version 3.2.48(1)-release… >>> More

Related posts about shell-scripting

UNIX Shell-scripting: UDV

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I am writing a simple unix shell script: #!/bin/bash # abort the script if a command fails set -e # abort the script if an unitialized shell variable is used set -u i = 0; while [$i -l 1] do src/meshpro input/martini.off video/noise/image$i… >>> More
idioms for returning multiple values in shell scripting

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Are there any idioms for returning multiple values from a bash function within a script? http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/assortedtips.html describes how to echo multiple values and process the results (e.g., example 35-17), but that gets tricky if some of the returned values are strings with spaces… >>> More
Shell scripting: Way to parse parameters from command line

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
myscript [-a a-arg] [-c c-arg] [-b] [-e] somedirectory Given that I want my shell script be invoked at the command line using the above parameters - where [these brackets] denote that they are optional - what is the best method to parse them? >>> More
Best book for learning linux shell scripting?

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I normally works on Windows machines but on some occasions I do switch to development on linux. And my most recent project will be written entirely on a certain linix platforms (not the standard Apache/MySQL/PHP setup). So I thought it would pay to learn to write some linux automation script now. I… >>> More
windows shell scripting through java

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
i am designing a desktop application like nero for removable media storage that also includes features of copyfast. i want to add an option of my own choice in the windows explorer right click menu. how can i do that? am i proceeding in the right direction? >>> More