From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "roodwriter@core.com" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Way to screen out non-ASCII characters? Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 12:14:49 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Message-ID: References: Reply-To: roodwriter@core.com NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1060877809 28684 80.91.224.253 (14 Aug 2003 16:16:49 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 16:16:49 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Thu Aug 14 18:16:48 2003 Return-path: Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 19nKmN-0006fy-00 for ; Thu, 14 Aug 2003 18:16:47 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.20) id 19nKlB-0002Y5-ID for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Thu, 14 Aug 2003 12:15:33 -0400 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!cyclone.bc.net!sjc70.webusenet.com!news.webusenet.com!sn-xit-02!sn-xit-04!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help User-Agent: KNode/0.7.1 Original-X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Original-Lines: 28 Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:115888 Original-To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.2 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:11806 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.help:11806 Edward Dodge wrote: > > Does anyone know if there is a mode or something that you can use in > EMACS to screen out everything that *isn't* ASCII text? I am > currently trying to get some old documents converted to a plain-old > ASCII text file, and I don't have access to the original program to > "save as text," nor do I want to write a script for this. > > I would assume that because EMACS can distinguish between different > character-sets, maybe there is a way for EMACS to strain out the > other garbage for me. > It's not Emacs, but if you're using Linux, you can use the strings command. You can launch it from the Emacs shell if you prefer. Read man strings. If those are old Word files, there's antiword and a few others that will take out the text. --Rod -- Author of "Linux for Non-Geeks--Clear-eyed Answered for Practical Consumers" and "Boring Stories from Uncle Rod." Both are available at http://www.rodwriterpublishing.com/index.html To reply by e-mail, take the extra "o" out of the name.