STRFILE(8)

NAME
strfile, unstr - create a random access file for storing strings

SYNOPSIS
strfile [-Ciorsx] [-c char] [--debug] [--help|-?] [--version] [--] source_file [output_file]
unstr [--debug] [--help|-?] [--version] [--] source_file

DESCRIPTION
The strfile utility reads a file containing groups of lines separated by a line containing a single percent ‘%’ sign and creates a data file which contains a header structure and a table of file offsets for each group of lines. This allows random access of the strings.

The output file, if not specified on the command line, is named source_file.dat.

The options are as follows:

-C  Flag the file as containing comments. This option cases the STR_COMMENTS bit in the header str_flags field to be set. Comments are designated by two delimiter characters at the beginning of the line, though strfile does not give any special treatment to comment lines.

-c char
    Change the delimiting character from the percent sign to char.

-i  Ignore case when ordering the strings.

-o  Order the strings in alphabetical order. The offset table will be sorted in the alphabetical order of the groups of lines referenced. Any initial non-alphanumeric characters are ignored. This option causes the STR_ORDERED bit in the header str_flags field to be set.

-r  Randomize access to the strings. Entries in the offset table will be randomly ordered. This option causes the STR_RANDOM bit in the header str_flags field to be set. The -o option has precedence over the -r option.

-s  Run silently; do not give a summary message when finished.

-x  Note that each alphabetic character in the groups of lines is rotated 13 positions in a simple caesar cypher. This option causes the STR_ROTATED bit in the header str_flags field to be set.

--debug
    Enable debug mode

--help|-?
    Print usage and this help message and exit

--version
    Print version and exit

--  Options processing terminator

The format of the header is:

    #define	VERSION	1
    uint32_t	str_version;	/* version number */
    uint32_t	str_numstr;	/* # of strings in the file */
    uint32_t	str_longlen;	/* length of longest string */
    uint32_t	str_shortlen;	/* length of shortest string */
    #define	STR_RANDOM	0x1	/* randomized pointers */
    #define	STR_ORDERED	0x2	/* ordered pointers */
    #define	STR_ROTATED	0x4	/* rot-13'd text */
    #define	STR_COMMENTS	0x8	/* embedded comments */
    uint32_t	str_flags;	/* bit field for flags */
    char		str_delim;	/* delimiting character */

All fields are written in network byte order.

The purpose of unstr is to undo the work of strfile. It prints out the strings contained in the file source_file in the order that they are listed in the header file source_file.dat to standard output. It is possible to create sorted versions of input files by using -o when strfile is run and then using unstr to dump them out in the table order.

ENVIRONMENT
The STRFILE_DEBUG and UNSTR_DEBUG environment variables can also be set to any value to enable debug mode.

SEE ALSO
byteorder(3), fortune(6)

STANDARDS
This re-implementation is fully compatible with the FreeBSD version.

It tries to follow the PEP 8 style guide for Python code.

HISTORY
Contributed by Ken Arnold, the strfile utility first appeared in 4.1cBSD.

This re-implementation was made for the [PNU project]: https://github.com/HubTou/PNU

LICENSE
This utility is available under the 3-clause BSD license.

AUTHORS
This version was written by Hubert Tournier.

The man page is derived from the FreeBSD project's one.