Help! View Null Characters!

jen25carmel · Post by **jen25carmel** » Tue May 25, 2010 3:36 pm

My coworker just downloaded Textpad and is not able to view the null characters. When I open the same document on my computer with Textpad, I can view null characters. I imagine this must be a setting within Textpad to be able to view these characters but I can't seem to be able to figure it out.

Help!

Thanks!

Mike Olds · Post by **Mike Olds** » Tue May 25, 2010 5:01 pm

Try clicking the P paragraph symbol top of window.

jen25carmel · Post by **jen25carmel** » Wed May 26, 2010 3:23 pm

Thanks for the feedback, however, that symbol doesn't seem to be affecting whether I see the null character or not. Any other ideas?

Mike Olds · Post by **Mike Olds** » Wed May 26, 2010 4:36 pm

I presume I have a misunderstanding as to the definition of a null character.
Tabs, Spaces, and Paragraph symbols can be turned on or off from that button.

If this is what you want and you are not seeing anything,

Close all open instances of TextPad.
Open a new instance
Go to Configure > Preferences > View
and look in the box for
Visible white spaces
Check off what you want.

If they are still not visible, check your color scheme, you may have them there and not be able to see them because they are the same as the background or some such.

ben_josephs · Post by **ben_josephs** » Wed May 26, 2010 5:22 pm

The null character is the character whose code is 0. In some fonts it displays as a blank; in others it displays as an open box. Try changing the font.

jen25carmel · Post by **jen25carmel** » Wed May 26, 2010 7:22 pm

Mike Olds -- The null characters look like a black bar.

Ben_Josephs -- Font isn't the issue. My coworker and I are both looking at the extact same file and I am seeing null characters while he is not.

Any other ideas?

Mike Olds · Post by **Mike Olds** » Wed May 26, 2010 7:47 pm

Ah. Thank you for the education.

Ain't seen no black bars round these parts in yars.

ak47wong · Post by **ak47wong** » Wed May 26, 2010 11:50 pm

jen25carmel wrote:Ben_Josephs -- Font isn't the issue. My coworker and I are both looking at the extact same file and I am seeing null characters while he is not.

Any other ideas?

You haven't yet ruled out font as the issue, or at least you haven't explained to us that you have. What font are you using and what font is your coworker using? For example, null characters look like black bars in Courier, open boxes in Courier New and Lucida Console, and boxed question marks in Consolas. The font does make a difference.

Andrew

Mike Olds · Post by **Mike Olds** » Thu May 27, 2010 9:38 am

Over night I saw this as the issue also: What we are speaking about here has nothing to do with what is in the file, but the Font being used to display text in TextPad.

Go to: Configure > Preferences > Document Classes

And under Default ? Font and make sure the two of you are using the same font.

Then also check the specific Document Class.

KekPafrany · Post by **KekPafrany** » Wed May 11, 2011 10:29 am

I have the same problem since we switched to win7 from Xp, and we are using Textpad 5.4 now (I don't remember the version number of the previous textpad).

I need to see the blocks of the special controller characters, but they are invisible and also unselectible (but I know that they are there). It uses Courier font as default, I don't think that it would be a font problem

Post by **helios** » Wed May 11, 2011 11:05 am

It has already been pointed out that the font used can effect the way a null character is displayed, but should you want to convert or delete null characters from a file, then please implement the following procedure:

1. Open the Replace dialog box
2. Type "\x00" without the quotes into the "Find what" section
3. Type the required replacement into the "Replace with" section
4. Under the heading "Conditions", check "Text and Regular expression"
5. Ensure the curser is at the beginning of the document
6. Click Replace All

I hope this helps.

KekPafrany · Post by **KekPafrany** » Wed May 11, 2011 11:51 am

No, I need these characters stay where they are. And I need to see them.

I need to see them as blocks (as were blocks in the previous Textpad versions), and where one block take a whole space of one character. I need them for manually checking the file for other purposes.

Now I checked my collegue's computer, she has Textpad 4.7 and uses Courier font. But the block characters are visible to her. I use textpad 5.4 and Courier font, what can I do now?

ben_josephs · Post by **ben_josephs** » Wed May 11, 2011 12:31 pm

What are the characters you can't see? Open the file in binary mode and have a look.

KekPafrany · Post by **KekPafrany** » Wed May 11, 2011 1:13 pm

I don't really know what should I see with the binay mode, it is the first time of my life that I see it, but if I understand properly, the characters I need are the characters stand for "1D" (and If "1E" stands for the new line and "0D then 0A" stand for the line break)

ben_josephs · Post by **ben_josephs** » Wed May 11, 2011 1:56 pm

0A is LF, line feed.
0D is CR, carriage return.
1D is GS, group separator.
1E is RS, record separator.

CR and LF are used together in traditional Windows text files as the line terminator.

GS and RS are rarely used in text files. They both appear on my XP machine as a thin filled box with Courier, and as a fat empty box with Courier New. Have you tried a different fixed-pitch font?