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PS1 (Prompt character) appearing in cat output

 
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# 1  
Old 06-14-2013
PS1 (Prompt character) appearing in cat output
RedHat Linux 5.8/Korn Shell

I have text file name /etc/oracle/config.loc. It has the following text
Code:
#Device/file  getting replaced by device +OCR
ocrconfig_loc=+DATA
ocrmirrorconfig_loc=+OCR

But , when I open this file using cat , the PS1 character (for prompt) appears as the last character in the last line

Code:
$ PS1='> '
>
> cat /etc/oracle/config.loc
#Device/file  getting replaced by device +OCR
ocrconfig_loc=+DATA
ocrmirrorconfig_loc=+OCR
local_only=false>

Changing PS1 to $ sign. As you can see below the dollar sign appears in cat output in the last line

Code:
> PS1='$ '
$
$
$ cat /etc/oracle/config.loc
#Device/file  getting replaced by device +OCR
ocrconfig_loc=+DATA
ocrmirrorconfig_loc=+OCR
local_only=false$

But it doesn't happen for all files. For instance, PS1 character doesn't appear in the below file abc.txt
Code:
$ cat abc.txt
hello world

Why is this happening ? How can I fix this ?
# 2  
Old 06-14-2013
It seems, your file /etc/oracle/config.loc does not end with a newline character.

Opening and saving the file with a text editor, like vi, should correct this issue.
This User Gave Thanks to hergp For This Post:
omega3
# 3  
Old 06-14-2013
Cool. I opened the file in vi and saved it. The character has disappeared.
THANK YOU hergp for 'eliminating this problem'.
Does this imply that VI has inserted a newline character at the end ? What could have caused the original issue ? The original file was created by Oracle's Clusterware.

I have kept a backup of the original file for future analysis.
# 4  
Old 06-14-2013
You are right, that vi wrote a newline at the end of the file. That's what most editors do.

The cause is probably, that clusterware does not mind or care about the terminating newline.

You can easily create such a file on your own. Just write

Code:
$ printf "this is a line without newline" >testfile
$ cat testfile
this is a line without newline$

BTW: keeping a backup is always a good idea Smilie
This User Gave Thanks to hergp For This Post:
omega3
# 5  
Old 06-14-2013
Thank you hergp.
If clusterware used echo command as shown below , then there wouldn't have been any problem

Code:
$ echo "blueSkies" > hello.txt
$
$ cat hello.txt
blueSkies

By the way , how can I make the new lines visible ? Is there a command to see new lines (\n) and other special characters ?
# 6  
Old 06-14-2013
A simple test:-

This one has the newline inserted...

Code:
echo "Hello World!"<CR>

This one doesn't...

Code:
printf "Hello World!"<CR>

# 7  
Old 06-14-2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by omega3
By the way , how can I make the new lines visible ? Is there a command to see new lines (\n) and other special characters ?
Try
Code:
od -c filename

 
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