James Kipp wrote: > have been trying to figure out a different solution then using the >>> -i arg. Is there a simple way to just open each file, delete the 5 >>> lines in place and close it(with no backup file), without getting >>> into sysread, truncate, etc... >> >> Not really. What's the problem with using -i? > > nothing really, just curiosity > [snip] > > but we still have not changed the original file, have we :-)
There isn't a way to edit a text file anywhere except the end without copying the data. Deleting from the beginning requires that all data after the deletion are moved up to the start of the file. You could do it within a buffer and write that back to the same file, but the file would still need to be truncated to empty it before the data was rewritten. You may as well just write it to a new file and rename them, which the -i qualifier does transparently. Cheers, Rob -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
