Hi, Ben. B Hechter wrote: > Well, it looks like I will need to batch process a large number of ASCII > (plain text) system configuration files in the same manner, in order to > filter out information that I do not need, before I import them into Frame. > > I don't know if this a proper topic for the list, but it takes me back to my > UNIX days of using "sed" with great success (even for a non-programmer like > me), to create a standard set of batch text processing instructions that > could be applied consistently and repetitively to large numbers of > pattern-based plain text files. > > The question is two fold: > a) any sed FM users out there?
I still use sed for certain repetitive patterned-text editing functions, but not to process the text for subsequent input into FrameMaker! This would work fine, of course, just surprising to me. > b) are there other similar (economical) options for batch processing of text > files? sed is free if you have a UNIX or Linux system handy. Price is tough to beat. :) But, perl is another very strong contender that I also use sometimes for these task. In most ways, *much* stronger than sed (depending on the complexity of the task at hand), but has a higher learning curve - particular if you already know sed, or do not know either program. Many free text editors, even on non-UNIX systems, have batch mode text editing capability too ... Z
