bug#7649: sparse files and commands

[support]

Hi, 
  Just an idea:
Am working with sparse text (ascii) files and need command line options.
For instance, cat could have --sparse=text
meaning 2 things:
1) it is a sparse file and so skip sparse recs.
2) it is text and so if(byte==0) skip it, it is sure to work.
maybe do this for all commands.
Thanks Charles Carter, President Sigma Software, Inc.