Hi,
Is there a way to convert the binary file to ascii . the binary file is pipe delimited.
from source the file(pipe delimited) is ftped to mainframe and from mainframe it is ftped to the unix box using binary format. Is there a way to change it back to ascii and view it?
Thanks!
The only difference between a binary file and an ASCII file is that the binary file may contain some unprintable characters. You can strip those out using the strings command, but you may lose some of the integrity of your data.
you mean to say, eve if it is ftped in binary mode, it will be readable?
It's not guaranteed... it depends what kind of data it contains. If it contains ASCII strings interspersed with unprintable characters then strings will do the job. If it's encrypted or in a different encoding (EBCDIC) then more work will be required... the question is too open ended without more information, i.e. what type of main frame, what type of file it is, etc.