UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers

Hi All,

We have a HTML source which will be processed using a informatica workflow. In between these two we have a Unix script which transforms the file.

We are getting an error from past week in the informatica saying invalid format, because the file has unused html reference (0-8,14-31 etc)

example:

Code:

� -    Unused
 -    Unused
 -    Unused
 - Ÿ Unused

Source for the above:
Hypertext Markup Language - 2.0 - The HTML Coded Character Set


We need to handle it in Unix and remove the above mentioned characters from the HTML file before processing it.

I have tried using sed command like

Code:

sed -e 's/\&\([^\amp;|^\apos;|^\quot;|^\lt;|^\gt;]\)/\&\1/g'

but it is not serving the purpose. Also, since we have soo many unused reference, it cannot be hardcoded also.

Could you please let me know how to proceed with this

Which UNIX operating system are you using?

What are the contents of the UNIX script you are currently using?

Can you give us a small sample input file containing some of the characters you want to delete and a corresponding sample output file showing the corresponding output you hope to produce?

There are specific PHP commands which will transform HTML files and strip out certain HTML entities, for example:

Code:

<?php
echo strip_tags("Hello <b>world!</b>");
?>

See also:

Code:

strip_tags ( string $str [, string $allowable_tags ] ) : string

Reference:

PHP: strip_tags - Manual

However, you might also find joy with

Code:

htmlspecialchars ( string $string [, int $flags = ENT_COMPAT | ENT_HTML401 [, string $encoding = ini_get("default_charset") [, bool $double_encode = TRUE ]]] ) : string

... depending on your exact requirements:

PHP: htmlspecialchars - Manual

Or even:

PHP: htmlentities - Manual

Please keep in mind that "web-centric" programming languages like PHP and others have a rich set of commands built to transform and process HTML files; and most web developers, including me, use these tools to make the transformation(s) you are considering.

PHP runs "just fine" from the "UNIX" or "Linux" command line in most modern operating systems.

But, as Don mentioned, without knowing the details of your OS, we are just shooting in the dark.