IDG Contributor Network: Windows vs. Unix: Those pesky line terminators
Other than having to switch between "/" and "\" when I'm moving from Unix systems to Windows systems, one of the most annoying (and seemingly pointless) differences is the way that these two competing operating systems insist on terminating lines in text files.
Unix systems use a single character -- the linefeed -- and Windows systems use both a carriage return and a linefeed (often referred to as "CRLF"). Being a "simpler is better" kind of person, I prefer the Unix approach. Knowing that I am sometimes going to have to deal with CRLF files from time to time, however, I try to be ready with some easy commands to detect and, as needed, change the files I'm working with.
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