strfile(8)

strfile8

Create a random access file for storing strings

Usage

strfile [-iorsx] [-c char] source_file [output_file]

unstr source_file

Overview

Strfile reads a file containing groups of lines separated by a line containing a single percent ‘%’ sign and creates a data file which contains a header structure and a table of file offsets for each group of lines. This allows random access of the strings.

The output file, if not specified on the command line, is named source_file.out.

The options are as follows:

-c char

Change the delimiting character from the percent sign to char.

-i

Ignore case when ordering the strings.

-o

Order the strings in alphabetical order. The offset table will be sorted in the alphabetical order of the groups of lines referenced. Any initial non-alphanumeric characters are ignored. This option causes the STR_ORDERED bit in the header str_flags field to be set.

-r

Randomize access to the strings. Entries in the offset table will be randomly ordered. This option causes the STR_RANDOM bit in the header str_flags field to be set.

-s

Run silently; don't give a summary message when finished.

-x

Note that each alphabetic character in the groups of lines is rotated 13 positions in a simple caesar cypher. This option causes the STR_ROTATED bit in the header str_flags field to be set.

The format of the header is:

#define	VERSION	1
unsigned long	str_version;	/* version number */
unsigned long	str_numstr;	/* # of strings in the file */
unsigned long	str_longlen;	/* length of longest string */
unsigned long	str_shortlen;	/* length of shortest string */
#define	STR_RANDOM	0x1	/* randomized pointers */
#define	STR_ORDERED	0x2	/* ordered pointers */
#define	STR_ROTATED	0x4	/* rot-13'd text */
unsigned long	str_flags;	/* bit field for flags */
char str_delim;			/* delimiting character */

All fields are written in network byte order.

The purpose of unstr is to undo the work of strfile. It prints out the strings contained in the file source_file in the order that they are listed in the header file source_file.dat to standard output. It is possible to create sorted versions of input files by using -o when strfile is run and then using unstr to dump them out in the table order.

Files

strfile.out

default output file.

Releases

5 releases since Debian 1.1 (Buzz); the text changed 3 times.

  1. 1.1
  2. 1.2–1.3
  3. 2.0
  4. 2.1

History

The strfile utility first appeared in 4.4BSD.

From fortune-mod 9708-10 in Debian 2.1 (Slink). Parsed by carta from the page's mdoc source.