[jeff k]

I created a .htaccess file to do a redirect.

My web hoster inputed the text to make it work.

I want to take it over, but I cannot see the hard returns in the text.

I've treid Dreamweaver, Text edit and Word.

He says I need a more powerful software like Textmate or BBedit.

But I hardly ever do redirects and would prefer not having to pay.

Are there any free text softwares that can pull this off? thanks!

[turtle777]

Do you have shell access to the account ?

Use a *nix texteditor to edit the file.

I prefer pico or nano.

Gentoo Linux Documentation -- Nano Basics Guide

-t

[jeff k]

Turtle, don't know what that means "shell access" to what account?
It's just a file in my website.

pico and nano, don't see a button to download.

Again, he is recommending something along the lines of: Textmate or BBedit

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by jeff k 

Turtle, don't know what that means "shell access" to what account?
It's just a file in my website.

pico and nano, don't see a button to download.

Again, he is recommending something along the lines of: Textmate or BBedit

In that case, I recommend the cheaper of the two mentioned apps.

However, I don't see why Apple's TextEdit wouldn't work. I've used it in the past to edit text files for my website.

-t

[Art Vandelay]

TextWrangler is made by the BBEdit folks and it's free.

[0157988944]

ANy app that can edit plain text can edit an .htaccess file, there's no reason you should need special software, I'm curious what his reasoning is.

[besson3c]

Maybe because TextEdit writes as RTF by default? Just convert to plain text via the "Format" menu.

[Gavin]

Sounds like he wants something that will highlight the line breaks.

Go with textwrangler. It's free, will show you invisible characters, and has tools to remove junk non-ascii , convert line endings and encodings, etc. Helps with all those buggers that creep in when doing cross-platform stuff.

subethaedit is good too.

[jeff k]

thanks,
Hoster had written that I screwed up because,

"You didn't end the line with a return. It's working now"

I told him I don't see a return, even after his fix. and that's why we got into a discussion so I could see this return he did after the first redirect line.

I just pasted it into Text Wranger and still don't see the return, what is the trick for seeing it?

And in word or text edit, or dreamweaver, is there a trick to see in those apps as well?

thanks!

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by jeff k 

And in word or text edit, or dreamweaver, is there a trick to see in those apps as well?

Yes.

In Word 2004, go to Preferences - View - Nonprinting characters

-t

[besson3c]

jeff k: the problem is that Windows uses a different ASCII character for line breaks than Unix machines. You need something that will convert Windows line breaks to Unix line breaks and vice versa. There are a ton of utilities and things that will, I would suggest Googling "convert Windows Mac line breaks" or something like that.

I would suggest not using Word for anything you want to go on the Web, because you are going to want to convert your documents to plain text first which sort of makes using Word pretty much pointless.

[besson3c]

jeff k: the other option, and the one I'd recommend, is learning how to use an editor provided by your web host, such as nano, pico, whatever. This way you don't have to worry about the line break situation, or connecting/uploading/downloading the file, etc. Your host needs to allow you to make SSH connections though.

[jeff k]

Word, just shows paragraph breaks -- not sure this is what he was talking about.

What is odd is that in Dreameaver, I click return, you would think that would make the returns he is talking about -- so I'm puzzled with that.

The hoster, will continue to do future redirects for me, but I would like to do it on my own.

that Dreamweaver cannot see these line breaks, it beyond me.

What about TExt Wranger? I have a copy, people here say it can do what the two the hoster mentoned can do. Can it edit, show line breaks.
Nano, PIco, Unix, -- stuff is just way over my head. Hopefull someone will know why I'm pasting in TExt Wrangler and not seeing the breaks.

This all so absurd. For the .htaccess file I had to just get an app to see the thing. Can't believe it would be invisible.

[besson3c]

jeff: like I said, the problem is that teh line breaks that are being created on your Mac are different than the ones created under Windows. Editors on the Mac don't create Windows line breaks natively. Again, you need to learn how to convert between the two. There are lots of utilities and techniques that will help you do this. Google using "convert line breaks Windows Mac" or something along those lines and you'll be on the right track.

[turtle777]

Jeff, just learn to use TextWrangler. It's free, there is no reason to look beyond that.

-t

[jeff k]

Besson,
got gist of that. I need then an app which I can edit the page and see the line breaks that a window user will see. is there a free app for that?

Turtle: tried text wrangler, don't see line breaks, what should I do?

thanks

[besson3c]

No, you need an app that will *convert* those line breaks for you both ways. Simply recognizing Windows line breaks is not going to do you much good, because you'll still need to save your file back with Windows line breaks. I haven't played with TextWrangler much, but if it will handle this conversion for you, go for it!

[besson3c]

jeff: Google search turned up the following:

Displaying line breaks - TextWrangler Talk | Google Groups

[jeff k]

Besson,
thanks,
I changed code in DW to Unix, and also in TExt wrangler they have that option at bottom of page.
Yes when I type, click return, I don't see anythng in either case.
What does this line break look like and where do you "see" it. thanks!

[davecom]

In some programs you'll see a little character for a line break if you turn on 'invisible' characters. In others you won't, because well, it's a line break! Seeing the text stop and start again on the next line indicates a line break. If you want to get rid of one, just go to the next line and hit delete. Then if using the arrow keys you can't get to that line anymore, well you just got rid of the line break!

[jeff k]

Dave,
this is just a normal page in Dreamweaver.
Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting

Are the numbers on the left the line breaks?