Inserting carriage returns in text file

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GKW in GA

I have a text file that 8 numbers per row separated by a space with a
carriage return after the last number in the row. How can I insert a carriage
return after each number in the text file so I only have 1 number per row.

In other words I want to change:
123456 123456 123456 123456 123456 123456 123456123456

To

123456
123456
123456
123456

If there is an other way to do this besides replacing the blank with a
carriage return, I am open to it
 
GKW in GA said:
I have a text file that 8 numbers per row separated by a space with a
carriage return after the last number in the row. How can I insert a
carriage
return after each number in the text file so I only have 1 number per row.

In other words I want to change:
123456 123456 123456 123456 123456 123456 123456123456

To

123456
123456
123456
123456

If there is an other way to do this besides replacing the blank with a
carriage return, I am open to it
Click to expand...

You could do it manually in MS Word by replacing each space with
a ^p (the symbol for a paragraph marker).

You could do it automatically with this batch file:
@echo off
set SourceFile=d:\temp\test.txt
set TargetFile=c:\out.txt

if exist "%TargetFile%" del "%TargetFile%"
for /F "delims=" %%a in ('type "%SourceFile%"') do call :Sub %%a
notepad "%TargetFile%"
goto :eof

:Sub
echo %1 >> "%TargetFile%"
if "%2"=="" goto :eof
shift
goto sub
 
I used the BAT file technique. It work great ...........thanks

Would you mind explaining what each line of code does starting with 'if
exist'. It's all kind of Greek to me
 
Glad you asked - few people bother to find out how their
utility program functions.

The overall concept is simple: Grab each element in your line
of text and add it as a single line to your results file. Since
we're "adding" it to the results file, we must ensure that we
start with a clean slate. This line of code will do it:
if exist "%TargetFile%" del "%TargetFile%"
Without this line we would add elements to whatever the
file contained before.

for /F "delims=" %%a in ('type "%SourceFile%"') do call :Sub %%a
This line uses advanced batch file techniques. It says: Grab one line
of text at a time from "SourceFile" and pass it as a parameter to the
subroutine that I chose to call "Sub".

:Sub
This is the label that marks the beginning of the subroutine called "Sub".

echo %1 >> "%TargetFile%"
This line will grab the first element of the received parameter and
append it to the target file. A single > would "write" the parameter
to the target file. A double >> will "append" it to that file. If your
line was
A123456 B123456 C123456 D123456 123456 123456 123456123456
then the first parameter would be A123456, because "parameters"
are text elements separated by one or more spaces.

if "%2"=="" goto :eof
Here we check if there is a further parameter to be dealt with. If
there isn't then we drop out of the subroutine.

shift
The shift command will move all parameters by one element to the
left. Hence
A123456 B123456 C123456 D123456 123456 123456 123456123456
becomes
B123456 C123456 D123456 123456 123456 123456123456
then
C123456 D123456 123456 123456 123456123456
and so on. This means that it is sufficient for the program to write
the first parameter (%1) do the output file, until there is nothing left.

goto sub
This instruction jumps back to the ":sub" label so that we start
all over again.

Enjoy!
 
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