The particular version of POSIX you linked to (2004) actually forbids the behavior you describe if you read it strictly. [1] defines a text file as "A file that

The particular version of POSIX you linked to (2004) actually forbids the behavior you describe if you read it strictly. [1] defines a text file as "A file that contains characters organized into one or more lines.". This was altered for 2008[2] to "A file that contains characters organized into zero or more lines." The 2008 version is actually broken, since it contradicts itself -- a file cannot "contain characters" on zero lines. [1] http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/basedefs/xbd_chap03.html#tag_03_392 http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/basedefs/xbd_... [2] http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap03.html#tag_03_397 http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_...