convert ^m to newline character in text files

Posted on   |   In

If the ^M character is showing up in files while opening the file concerned, then follow these steps to convert it to a new line. In vi use the following:

:%s/^M/\n/g

or with perl on the command line:

 perl -pi.bak -e 's/^M/\n/g'

NOTE: Be sure to create the ^M by typing ctrl+V followed by ctrl+M.

^M is ASCII 13 (Ctrl+M), which is the carriage return.

Different operating systems use different symbols to set the end of a line/new line.

Unix/Linux uses newline (\n)MacOSX uses carriage return (\r)Windows/DOS use both (\n\r)

To prevent the ^M from showing up in files, be sure to use the ASCII (text) mode when transfering text files.

References

  1. http://blog.eukhost.com/webhosting/convert-m-to-newline-character-in-text-files/