Blout 2.8 build: 9639 released: 2016-08-24

Remove excess or all blank lines from text files, bl(ank)-out..

Copyright: (c) 2017 Canadian Mind Products.

C command line utility.
Download from: http://mindprod.com/products3.html#BLOUT

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Notes:

This program can only be used from the command prompt, (or via an command
line style icon shortcut) e.g. under Windows command.exe or JPSoft
tcmd.exe, formerly called the DOS box. Just clicking the programs in a
directory listing will not do anything useful. Just typing the program
names at the command prompt will not either.

This program requires a manual install! See below.

This program works with vanilla text files, (e.g. ASCII files or UTF-8
Unicode files). You will need a text editor to create and view them, not a word
processor. e.g. notepad, Visual Slick Edit or other suitable text editor
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/editor.html. You must use a monospaced font
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/monospacedfonts.html (aka fixed pitch, aka
programmer font) to view your files, or they won't look properly aligned.

I put out an avalanche of free software into the world, and submit PAD
files to hundreds of distribution sites, but I rarely hear back from
anyone.  What's happening?  Does it all just work fine?  It is so
complicated nobody can figure out how to use it and they give up on it?
It is it useful?  Since everyone has the source, do people just fix the
programs to their liking themselves?  Did you have trouble installing?  Do
I presume you know too much?  I would be happy to hear from you about your
experiences, positive or negative and your requests for improvements.  A
one-line email to roedy@mindprod.com would be great.

===> Free <===
Full source included.
You may even include the source code, modified or unmodified
in free/commercial open source/proprietary programs that you write and distribute.
May be used freely for any purpose but military.
For more details on this restriction, see
http://mindprod.com/contact/nonmil.html
If you include any Canadian Mind Products code in your own applications,
your app too must be labelled non-military use only.
http://mindprod.com/contact/nonmil.html
All C source and EXE files code are included.

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Prerequisites:

This program runs under Microsoft Windows from the command line (e.g. Win2K/XP/Vista)

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Installing on a PC:

Download source and executable files to run on your own machine as a standalone utility.
To install, extract the zip download with WinZip
(or similar unzip utility) into any directory you please,
often J:\ --  ticking off the <span class="click">use folder names</span> option.

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Installing on a MacIntosh:

Use Safari to download source and executable files to run on your own machine as a standalone utility.
The EXE files will not work. You will have to recompile, perhaps making minor changes to the source code.
Safari will automatically unpack the zip into ~/Downloads (version 10.5)
[or on the Desktop (version 10.4 and earlier)].
First install a recent Java JDK or JVM.
See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/installingjava.html.
You may optionally move the download tree to a permanent home.

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Rebuilding:

The zip already contains the necessary exe, so unless you modify
the program, there is no need to recompile the source or recompile it.
Configure.java basedir="E:/" in rebuild.xml to the drive where your files are and tweak rebuild.xml.
Use ANT and rebuild.xml, not build.xml, to rebuild and link.

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Use:

Blout removes extra blank lines from a file, collapsing multiple blank
lines down to one, (or removing them altogether with the -compact option).
It also ensures the file has a final CrLf.  It also trims any blank lines
off the beginning and end of the file.  It also converts all line endings
to Windows standard CrLf form.  It trims trailing tabs and spaces from
each line.
Blout is not that bright.  It does not understand wildcards except those
expanded by the OS, However, you can put multiple files on the command line.
usage:
blout.exe  somefile.txt  anotherfile.txt
You can also ask it to get rid of  blank lines altogether with:
blout.exe  -compact somefile.txt  anotherfile.txt
For Windows, C source included.  It is not smart enough to handle Unix Lf
line conventions.  It can handle arbitrarily large files.  They do not
have to fit in RAM.  Because of this feature, files will get a new date
whether anything changed or not.  It is designed so that if you abort part
way through, your original file will be unchanged.


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Version History:

 1.0 1993-11-09 Roedy Green in Microsoft Visual C 8

 1.1 1996-11-08 extra "good" extensions

 1.2 1997-03-10 extra "good" extensions HTM, INI, SQL

 1.3 2003-05-09 extra "good" extensions CSV

 1.4 2004-05-20 converted to Win32 app.
                new ensures file has terminating \n.

 1.5 2004-06-01 handles *.html files
                avoid close of unopen files.

 1.6 2005-07-23 add more good and bad extensions

 1.7 2007-07-23 add xsd, xsdfrag, dtd, dtdfrag extensions

 1.8 2008-01-02 convert to POSIX and safe char handling library.

 1.9 2008-01-03 fix time file placement, display banner on all errors

 2.0 2008-01-04 add pml extension as good.

 2.1 2009-03-11 add ANT build script

 2.2 2009-05-05 ad pml to list of safe extensions

 2.3 2010-02-03 tidy files with badly damaged NLs. Use Java naming conventions. Treats lines of tabs and spaces as empty.

 2.4 2010-02-11 add .mftfrag, .mf, .mffrag, .sf, .sffrag, .http, .httpfrag as good extensions.

 2.5 2010-02-18 trim lead and trail blank lines from files. Handle up to 100 runs of leading tab/spaces on lines.

 2.6 2011-01-16 nows allows multiple files on the command line, and the -compact option.

 2.7 2014-04-29 lists of extensions now do not include ., Kept in sync with Java ExtensionListFilter.

 2.8 2016-08-24 add more good/bad extensions.

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