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Is there a quick way to convert text file from Unix line breaks to Windows ones in Unix environment? I thought there could be a standard utility.

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4 Answers

up vote 28 down vote accepted

You're probably looking for dos2unix, unix2dos, todos or fromdos depending on your distribution. Ubuntu/Debian package todos/fromdos as part of the tofrodos package from memory.

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3  
In case anyone comes across this question looking for Windows solutions, the upstream site for dos2unix is waterlan.home.xs4all.nl/dos2unix.html, and it works in Windows as well. – womble Aug 21 '11 at 3:59
You can install dos2unix/unix2dos on Mac OS X using Homebrew. With Homebrew installed, the command is brew install dos2unix, which uses this formula. – Rory O'Kane Jan 20 at 22:55
up vote 16 down vote

One option is to use unix2dos (and dos2unix for going back) on the command line.

Another is to use a text editor:
For vi: :set ff=dos to set the line endings to be dos line endings.
For emacs: C-x [ENTER] f dos [ENTER]

For your favourite GUI based editor (eg. jedit) I recommend checking the manual or Google.

Lastly if you don't want to deal with a text editor and just do it using more common utilities and such (or don't have unix2dos installed):

tr -d '\r' < infile > outfile to go from Windows -> Unix
awk 'sub("$", "\r")' unixfile.txt > winfile.txt to go from Unix -> Windows as tr can not go from Unix to Windows.

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dos2unix made the trick, however thanks for tr utility, it could have saved so much time in the past! – alexeit May 8 '09 at 5:06
up vote 4 down vote

Edit it in vim, and use the set fileformat command.

  • MS-DOS/Windows (CR+LF breaks) to *nix (LF only breaks)

    :set fileformat=unix

    :wq

  • *nix to MS

    :set fileformat=dos

    :wq

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Be careful when using that if the file does not already have a line break at the last line; vim will add one unless you know how to tell it not to. – CesarB Jun 14 '09 at 20:54
up vote 2 down vote

This is what I use, similar to Chealion:

tr -d \\015 < windows > unix
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The poster wanted unix to windows line endings. And you're some years late with you answer. – ott-- Oct 7 '12 at 18:36
4  
Who cares if it's "years late"? It still works, and it's still applicable to the question. I was just adding another option for readers that come upon it, like myself. Also, his question asks for Windows -> Unix, and his description asks for Unix -> Windows. shrug – Josh Oct 9 '12 at 10:57
Right. Maybe you add the other tr-command for converting unix to windows then. – ott-- Oct 9 '12 at 16:53
I tried to undo the downvote, but it said that it's locked until the article is edited. – ott-- Oct 9 '12 at 21:09

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