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From: tomr@ashtate (Tom Rombouts)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Seeking "smarter" UUDECODE.C type utility
Message-ID: <1991Jan22.020001.15847@ashtate>
Date: 22 Jan 91 02:00:01 GMT
Organization: Ashton-Tate, Inc., Torrance, CA
Lines: 51

First of all, thanks to those on the net who have provided the
current UUDECODE.C.  It works like a marvel, and I have used it
on some massive files to date with no problems.  

However, like all end users, I have a "wish list" item.  Thus:

Has anyone made a modified UUDECODE that will skip through
"junk" between sections of multi-part posts?  Essentially, I
can easily save several files to a large text file on disk.
However, I then have to go in and edit out the various
"cut here" or "snip - snip" lines (and any other extra "junk"
between pieces) before I can then UUDECODE it.

Since every line (except the final one?) in the coded section
seems to start with "M", has anyone modified UUDECODE so 
that it would:
   1.  Skip all text until if finds "begin" in the left 
       column.  (I think it does this already.)
   2.  Only translate lines that begin with an "M" in the
       left column.
	  If a line begins with "M", test to see if the
	  next character is lower case, and back out if so.
          (To prevent "translating" English lines that 
	   happen to start with "M" between pieces.  
	   This would probably catch the majority of them.)
   3.  Ignore the "starting with M" rule on the final
       line, which I belive is indicated after "begin" how many
       encoded lines there are.

With such a utility, I could then save all the pieces from a
multi-part post into a single "mailbox format" text file, and
then uudecode it directly.  (Thereby skipping the editing step
entirely.)  Of course, this may not be foolproof, but even if
it worked 80% of the time it would be a big improvement from 
the current method.  (And one could always use the "old"
method if it choked from time to time.)

By the way, I am in no way suggesting this to replace the
current UUDECODE.  It would be an alternate utility that one
would use at one's own risk.

Does something like this exist out there?  Is there some simple
reason I have overlooked why this is impossible?  I could try to
hack it out myself, but suspect many others have looked at this
problem already.

(Alternate solution:  an AWK or CSH script that automatically
deletes non-uuencoded lines.)


Tom Rombouts  Torrance 'Tater  tomr@ashtate.A-T.com  V:(213)538-7108