4 ms·
> so we used to use a hack to print "0", followed by a backspace escape code, and then a slash. That produced a slashed zero. That's awesome. Thanks for sharin
by donkeyd 8y ago
> so we used to use a hack to print "0", followed by a backspace escape code, and then a slash. That produced a slashed zero.
That's awesome. Thanks for sharing, because as somebody who grow up with windows 3.1 being the earliest OS, these stories are great.
- int_19h 8y agoThis sort of thing is actually exactly what backspace was originally for - it predates computers, and was used on typewriters to e.g. make accented characters, or underline text (ASCII has underscore as a symbol for that exact purpose). You could also make things bold by doing backspace and then re-printing the same character, one or more times.
- vram22 8y agoRight, and that usage was later carried on to Unix man pages. Hence this tiny but handy script I wrote (and have used for years), to strip those formatting characters: m, a Unix shell utility to save cleaned-up man pages as text: https://jugad2.blogspot.com/2017/03/m-unix-shell-utility-to-save-cleaned-up.html https://jugad2.blogspot.com/2017/03/m-unix-shell-utility-to-...