Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!zardoz!hrc!gtx!sue From: sue@gtx.com (Sue Miller) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: ^Z in files (was: Unix-like cat for MS-DOS) Message-ID: <1129@gtx.com> Date: 14 Aug 89 01:59:24 GMT References: <380@wjh12.harvard.edu> <1436@mks.UUCP> Reply-To: sue@gtx.UUCP (Sue Miller) Distribution: na Organization: GTX Corporation, Phoenix, Arizona Lines: 22 In article <1436@mks.UUCP> andy@mks.waterloo.edu (Andy Toy) writes: >Why, oh why, do programmes insist on putting ^Z in files? ^Z is just >another character and it could be in files for real. There is >absolutely no reason to have ^Z in MS-DOS files because there no >requirement for a MS-DOS file to end in ^Z. The actual size of >the files is stored elsewhere. I have always rather fuzzily assumed that ^Z was a requirement for MS-DOS 1.0 or so. Is this true? I have then further assumed that it is a vestigial leftover that many developers have preserved Just In Case that there may still be some people who are still using that antique OS. The reason I assume that MS-DOS 1.0 might have used ^Z is because I remember that CP/M used it, and MS-DOS is quite heavily based on CP/M. My next question is: Why the heck was ^Z used for EOF? That seems a very strange choice. -- listen: there's a hell of a good universe next door; let's go. __________________________________ ee cummings |Sue Miller ...!sun!sunburn!gtx!sue|