2 [1]The Columbia Crown The Kermit Project | Columbia University
3 612 West 115th Street, New York NY 10025 USA o [2]kermit@columbia.edu
5 [3]Home [4]Kermit 95 [5]C-Kermit [6]Scripts [7]Current [8]New [9]FAQ
9 [11]CLICK HERE to read about some of these items.
11 [12]Table of platforms [13]Book: Using C-Kermit [14]Download
14 C-Kermit 9.0 Update Notes
16 Note: C-Kermit 9.0.301 contains a correction that applies only to
19 * [16]How to Test Large-File Transfer
20 * [17]Arithmetic with Large Integers
21 * [18]FORCE-3 Packet Protocol
22 * [19]Variable Evaluation
24 * [20]The RENAME Command You Always Wanted
25 * [21]Other New Features
26 * [22]Incompatibilities
27 * [23]What's Not In C-Kermit 9.0
30 * [25]Demonstration: Secure POP mail fetcher
31 * [26]Demonstration: HP Switch Configuration Backup
32 * [27]Demonstration: HP iLO Blade Configuration
33 * [28]Demonstration: IBM/Rolm/Siemens CBX Management
34 * [29]Demonstration: CSV and TSV Files
35 * [30]Demonstration Scripts for Webmasters
37 This is the third supplement to [31]Using C-Kermit, Second Edition. I
38 apologize for the scattered nature of the information and I hope I can
39 organize it and gather it all into one place for easy and definitive
40 reference some day. It's a big job so it depends on the demand. For the
41 time being the definitive reference and introduction is the book (which
42 is now available also in a [32]Kindle Edition), plus the [33]C-Kermit
43 7.0 update, [34]C-Kermit 8.0 update, and now this one. Plus tons of
44 other web pages on this site, sample script programs, and so on.
46 In version 6.0, C-Kermit was a pretty powerful and flexible
47 communication program with scripting capabilities. By version 9.0, I'd
48 like to think of it more as a scripting language with built-in
49 communications. You can get an idea of the kinds of programs you can
50 write in Kermit language [35]here. You can develop programs quickly
51 because it's an interactive program, not a compiler. The scripting
52 language is the command language. Kind of like the Unix shell but
53 "somewhat" less cryptic, including concepts not only from C but from
54 PL/I, Snobol, LISP, and Smalltalk. The language itself is built upon
55 the command language of the much-loved [36]DECSYSTEM-20 from the 1970s
56 and 80s, the Clipper Ship of the Text Era. (Text is not a bad word.
57 Those of us who can touch-type and who are proficient in text-based
58 computing environments like Unix shell or VMS DCL are likely to be
59 orders of magnitude more productive than users of GUIs.)
61 Thanks to (at least) Jeff Altman, William Bader, Ian Beckwith, Nelson
62 Beebe, Gerry Belanger, Joop Boonen, Rob Brown, Christian Corti, John
63 Dunlap, Peter Eichhorn, Carl Friedberg, Terry Kennedy, Günter Knauf,
64 Jason Lehr, Arthur Marsh, Lewis McCarthy, Gary Mills, Jonathan Reams,
65 Mike Rechtman, Mark Sapiro, Steven Schweda (SMS), Kinjal Shah, Michael
66 Sokolov, Andy Tanenbaum, Seth Theriault, Zach A. Thomas, Martin
67 Vorländer, and Eric Weaver for assistance, and to Hewlett-Packard
70 - Frank da Cruz [37]fdc@columbia.edu, 30 June 2011
72 P.S. It occurred to me just before the end of the day that maybe I
73 should back up the Kermit website on DVD, just in case. Using
74 [38]Kermit 95 on the desktop over an SSH connection to the Unix file
75 system where the website resides, I made a fresh directory on the PC,
76 CD'd to it, and on Unix cd'd to the Website directory, and told
79 C-Kermit> send /recursive /dotfiles /nobackup *
81 and it re-created the website directory tree in the PC directory, text
82 files correctly converted to Windows format and binary files correctly
83 left as-is. The /dotfiles switch means to include files such as
84 .htaccess whose names start with a dot (period), and the /nobackup
85 switch means to skip backup files created by EMACs (such as
86 index.html.~243~). And then I did the same with the FTP sites, about
87 8GB in all. Watching the file-transfer display was kind of like having
88 30 years of my life flash before my eyes in a few minutes. Then I
89 copied the two directories to DVD (the FTP site had to split over 2
90 DVDs). The whole operation took under half an hour. The directory tree
91 on the CD is directly usable in Windows, Unix, or any other operating
92 system (unlike if I had made, say, a gzipped tar archive or a zip
93 archive). I believe that, to this day, Kermit is the only software that
94 can do this. If someday I have to upload from these DVDs to Unix, VMS,
95 or any other operating system, it can be done exactly the same way,
96 with any necessary conversions on text files done automatically, and
97 binary files left intact.
101 Very briefly, the major items:
102 * [39]Open Source license.
103 * [40]64-bit file accesss and transfer and 64-bit integer arithmetic
104 on most common platforms.
105 * Support for recent releases of Linux, Mac OS X, *BSD, etc ([41]see
107 * Support for newer OpenSSL releases up to and including 1.0.0d
109 * [43]Strengthened error checking for file transfer under extremely
111 * [44]Simplified semantics for variables used in scripts.
112 * Super-handy [45]extensions to the RENAME command.
113 * Other scripting improvements including support for reading and
114 writing [46]CSV and TSV files.
115 * [47]MIME character-set names are now recognized.
116 * Improved logging and debugging (see demo [48]here).
117 * Lots more described or listed below, and [49]here.
121 C-Kermit 9.0 has the [50]Revised 3-Clause BSD License, an open source
122 license approved by OSI, the [51]Open Source Initiative.
126 Kermit is, first and foremost, a file-transfer program. One might
127 expect it to be able to transfer any kind of file, but that has been
128 decreasingly the case as file sizes began to cross the 2 gigabyte
131 The biggest change since C-Kermit 8.0.211 is support for large files on
132 platforms that support them. A "large file" is one whose size is
133 greater than 2^31-1 (2,147,483,647) bytes (2GB-1); that is, one whose
134 size requires more than 31 bits to represent. Before now, Kermit was
135 able to accesss such files only on 100% 64-bit platforms such as
136 Digital Unix, later known as Tru64 Unix. In the new release, Kermit
137 takes advantage of the X/Open Single UNIX Specification Version 2 (UNIX
138 98) Large File Support (LFS) specification, which allows 32-bit
139 platforms to create, accesss, and manage files larger than 2GB.
141 Accommodating large files required code changes in many modules,
142 affecting not only file transfer, but also file management functions
143 from directory listings to local file manipulation, plus the user
144 interface itself to allow entry and display of large numbers. All this
145 had to be done in a way that would not affect pure 32-bit builds on
146 platforms that do not support large files. Large file support is
147 summarized in the [52]Table of Platforms; entries in Yellow (32-bit
148 builds that support 64-bit integers) and Green (64-bit builds) support
151 Note that VMS C-Kermit and Kermit 95 for Windows have always been able
152 to transfer large files. However their user interface used 32-bit
153 integers for statistics and the file transfer display. In C-Kermit 9.0
154 Alpha.03, VMS C-Kermit on 64-bit platforms (Alpha and Itanium) should
155 now give correct statistics and progress displays. (We'll see about
158 How to Test Large-File Transfer
160 Several methods are available for testing large-file transfers:
161 * By transferring a real file that is more than 2147483648 bytes long
162 (a file whose length requires more than 31 bits to express); or to
163 be totally sure, that is longer than 4294967296 bytes (32 bits or
164 more). Or to be double super sure, longer than 8589934592 (33
166 * If you don't have such a file or there is not sufficient disk space
167 for such a file, you can create a special kind of file that takes
168 up one block on the disk but appears to be 4.3GB long by compiling
169 and running [53]THIS C PROGRAM on Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, or other
170 Unix platform that supports large files. Kermit or FTP or any other
171 file transfer program will transfer the result (BIGFILE) in such a
172 way as to actually put 4.3GB (or other desired size; see source) on
174 * You can use Kermit's CALIBRATE feature to transfer a large file
175 that doesn't exist. At the receiver, use RECEIVE /CALIBRATE. At the
176 sender, use SEND /CALIBRATE:length, e.g.:
178 (At remote kermit...)
180 C-Kermit> receive /calibrate
181 (Return to local kermit...)
183 C-Kermit> send /calibrate:4300000000
184 This sends a simulated file 4.3GB in length, that does not exist on
185 the sender and will not take up any disk space on the receiver.
186 SEND /CALIBRATE: accepts big numbers only in Kermit versions that
187 support them (this does not include Kermit 95 on Windows). This
188 method tests only Kermit's ability to express and understand large
189 file sizes, but does not test Kermit's file-system interface, since
190 no files are involved.
192 Arithmetic with Large Integers
194 Because large file support requires the availability of a 64-bit signed
195 integer data type, other aspects of C-Kermit were adapted to use it
196 too, most notably Kermit's algebraic expression evaluator and its
197 [54]S-Expression interpreter, on all platforms that support large files
198 (those listed as 64 or 32/64 in the Word column of the [55]table). In
199 fact, every Kermit command that parses a number in any field can now
200 parse a large number on those platforms.
202 S-Expressions can now be forced to operate with integers only, without
203 floating-point conversion or having to explicitly truncate each result;
204 as an example. see the revised [56]Easter date calculation script.
206 FORCE-3 Packet Protocol
208 The Kermit protocol has proven itself over the past 30 years to be
209 robust in terms of surviving harsh transmission environments and
210 delivering the data correctly and completely. In these times of
211 Internet everywhere and error-correcting modems in the few places where
212 the Internet isn't, few people even recall the kinds of difficult
213 conditions that were common when the Kermit protocol was first
214 developed: noisy telephone lines, serial interfaces that drop
215 characters, lack of transparency to control or 8-bit characters,
216 absence of flow control, "bare" modems without error correction.
218 But the Internet is not everywhere, and not all modems are
219 error-correcting. Perhaps the most difficult trial so far for Kermit or
220 any other protocol is the [57]EM-APEX project, in which floats are
221 dropped into the ocean from an aircraft into the path of a hurricane;
222 these floats dive into the water measuring current, temperature, and
223 salinity at different depths and then surface to phone home, sending
224 the data to land stations using Kermit protocol over
225 non-error-correcting 300bps [58]Iridium satellite modems, with high
226 seas and winds battering the floats and heavy ([59]sometimes
227 electrical) storms between the modem and the satellite.
229 Because of the transmission speed and long distances involved, the
230 transfers were very slow. The Kermit software in the floats is
231 [60]Embedded Kermit, which did not implement sliding windows, which
232 would have sped up the flow considerably. John Dunlap, engineer at the
233 University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory, undertook the
234 task of adding sliding windows to E-Kermit. For testing, he rigged up a
235 [61]simulator in which Kermit transfers take place over a connection
236 with different amounts of noise and delay. He found that occasionally,
237 a transfer would appear to succeed, but the received file would be
240 According to the Kermit protocol definition, the first packet always
241 has block-check type 1, a 6-bit checksum, which is the only block check
242 type that all Kermit implementations are required to support; thus any
243 Kermit partner can process this packet. This packet itself can
244 negotiate a higher level of checking, such that subsequent packets have
245 (say) block-check type 3, a 16-bit cyclic redundancy check (CRC)
246 encoded as three printable 7-bit ASCII characters. The 16-bit CRC can
247 catch all errors of certain kinds (single-bit, double-bit, bursts of 16
248 bits or less), and more than 99.9984741210937% of all other possible
251 John's simulations revealed that file corruption could occur undetected
252 when the initial packet was corrupted in such a way that a parameter or
253 capability byte was changed and the checksum also changed to make the
254 packet appear to be correct, thus allowing the transfer to proceed with
255 the two Kermit partners out of sync as to packet encoding and
256 interpretation (the chances of two such errors producing a seemingly
257 valid packet are about 1 in 6000 when using the 6-bit checksum). For
258 example, the compression technique might be misnegotiated and then the
259 receiver might store incoming data without decompressing it.
261 The solution is a new option, selected by:
265 to require a type 3 block check (16-bit CRC) on every packet, including
266 the initial ones, thus reducing the probability of a misnegotiation by
267 many orders of magnitude. THIS PARAMETER CAN NOT BE NEGOTIATED. Each
268 Kermit program must be given the "set block 5" command prior to
269 transfer. That's because normally every Kermit program expects the
270 first packet to have a 6-bit checksum, and if the first packet has a
271 3-byte, 16-bit CRC, the packet receiver will think it is corrupted.
273 In practice, however, it is possible to code the packet receiver
274 "cheat" by reading the packet data before verifying the block check.
275 Thus when the receiver is C-Kermit 9.0 Beta.01 or later or E-Kermit 1.7
276 or later, it is only necessary to give the "set block 5" command to the
277 file sender, and the receiver will check for a FORCE-3 first packet. If
278 the receiver does not support this feature, however, the the initial
279 packet will be be rejected (after several retries) and the file
280 transfer will not take place. There is no attempt to "back off" to
283 CAPTION: Table 4. Kermit Protocol Packet Block Check Types
285 Type Command Bytes Status Explanation
286 1 SET BLOCK 1 1 Required in all Kermit implementations. Negotiated.
287 6-bit checksum, suitable for good connections.
288 2 SET BLOCK 2 2 Optional, negotiated. 12-bit checksum. 64 times
289 stronger than type 1.
290 3 SET BLOCK 3 3 Optional, negotiated. 16-bit CRC.
291 BLANK-FREE-2 SET BLOCK 4 2 Optional, negotiated. 12-bit checksum, two
293 FORCE-3 SET BLOCK 5 3 Optional, not negotiated. 16-bit CRC forced all
296 BLANK-FREE-2 is for environments where Kermit packets are treated as
297 lines of text, and in which trailing blanks can be stripped; for
298 example, when transferring files with an IBM mainframe through a 3270
304 Does the strange behavior of Kermit's \%x variables puzzle or annoy
307 Kermit software development has been a collaborative project over the
308 years, with contributions coming in from almost every country and every
309 sector of the economy - academic, corporate, government. Thus not all
310 versions, and not all features of a given version, are a product of
313 One example was the introduction of variables for text substitution,
314 first in a version of MS-DOS Kermit that was sent in by someone
315 somewhere (I could look it up, but no time...) Although the design of
316 the notation for variable names (table below) is mine, the underlying
317 code was contributed. In that code there was only one kind of variable,
318 and if I recall correctly the variable name was a backslash followed by
319 a single letter, for example \a, \b, etc. The contributed code
320 evaluated these variables recursively, meaning if the definition of a
321 variable contained variable references, then these were resolved when
322 derefencing the variable, and the process would continue as deep down
323 as necessary to resolve the thing fully.
325 This was sometimes handy, but it had one severe drawback: There was no
326 way to use variables in a straightforward way to represent strings that
327 contained literal backslashes; for example, DOS or Windows pathnames.
328 This gave rise to all kinds of quoting rules and conventions (e.g.
329 doubling backslashes or forcing single-level evaluation with
330 \\fcontents()), and also to the introduction of other kinds of
331 variables that were evaluated one level deep, rather than recursively.
333 To accommodate coexistence of different kinds of variables as well as
334 "escape sequences" for representing control and 8-bit characters, the
335 syntax for variable names was extended to include three elements: the
336 leading backslash, then a single character indicating the type of
337 variable, and then the name of the variable in a format corresponding
338 to the type designator, as shown in this somewhat simplified table:
340 CAPTION: Table 1. Variable-name Syntax in Kermit
343 \000 - \255 8-bit character constant (decimal)
344 \d000 - \d255 Alternative notation for 8-bit character (byte) constant
346 \o000 - \o377 8-bit character constant (octal)
347 \x00 - \xff 8-bit character constant (hexadecimal)
348 \%a - \%z Scalar variable, evaluated recursively.
349 \%0 - \%9 Macro argument, scalar, evaluated recursively.
351 \&a[x] Array reference, evaluated recursively (x is any constant or
353 \v(name) Built-in scalar variable, evaluated one level deep.
354 \m(name) User-defined scalar variable, evaluated one level deep.
355 \$(name) An environment variable, evaluated one level deep.
356 \s(name[n:m]) Compact substring notation, evaluated one level deep.
357 \fname(args...) Built-in function with zero or more arguments.
359 \N OUTPUT command only: NUL, ASCII 0
360 \B OUTPUT command only: BREAK (250ms, for serial connections)
361 \L OUTPUT command only: Long BREAK (1.5sec, ditto)
363 Variable names in Kermit are case-independent. The simplifications in
364 the table are that the notation for decimal and octal bytes can have
365 from one to three digits, and can include braces to separate them from
366 text digits, e.g. \7, \{123}, \o{50}. Hex bytes too, except they must
367 always have exactly two hex digits, 0-9a-f. Array indices must be, or
368 must evaluate to, numbers (floating point numbers are truncated).
369 Associative arrays are also available (dynamic arrays with arbitrary
370 text as subscript), but they are really just a variation on \m()
371 variables (read about associative arrays [63]here). Also, there are
372 some alternative notations for compact substring notation.
374 We didn't want to have lots of "distinguished" characters, as the UNIX
375 shell does; one is enough, clarity over brevity. Although the notation
376 can be a bit cumbersome, we can use the \m(name) form to circumvent the
377 overevaluation in most contexts. But macro arguments are always
378 assigned to the \%0-9 variables, and thus always evaluated recursively,
379 making it difficult and confusing to pass (e.g.) Windows pathnames as
380 arguments to macros. The same is true for array elements, especially in
381 contexts where they are used to return results from built-in functions
382 (for example, \fsplit() used to return the elements of a
383 [64]comma-separated value list if any of the values contained
384 backslashes). An even worse scenario is when macro arguments are passed
385 from one macro to another; for some graphic illustrations see
386 [65]Taming the Wild Backslash - Part Deux from the [66]C-Kermit 7.0
389 We can't just change how variables are evaluated because that would
390 break existing scripts. But we can always add Yet Another SET Command:
392 SET COMMAND VARIABLE-EVALUATION { RECURSIVE, SIMPLE }
394 This applies only to \%a-z and \%0-9 variables and to \&a-z[] arrays
395 (since all other kinds of variables are evaluated only one level deep).
396 The default, of course, for backwards compatibility, is RECURSIVE.
397 SIMPLE forces the evaluation of these variables to return their literal
398 contents, without further evaluation:
400 * An exception is made in the case of array subscripts, because
401 changing how they are evaluated could break a lot of scripts, and
402 anyway there should never be any harm in evaluating them
403 recursively because their final value is always (or should be)
404 numeric, not some string that might contain backslashes.
405 * The VARIABLE-EVALUTION setting is on the command stack. Thus you
406 can give this command in a macro, command file, or user-defined
407 function without affecting the calling environment.
408 * The new \frecurse() function forces recursive evaluation of its
409 argument regardless of the VARIABLE-EVALUATION setting. The
410 argument can be any string (or nothing at all); all the variables
411 in the string, even \m() ones, are evaluated recursively:
417 echo \frecurse(\m(xx))
419 echo \frecurse(it's as easy as \m(xx))
420 it's as easy as easy as 1 2 3
422 * The new \v(vareval) built-in variable contains the current setting
423 (recursive or simple) at the current command-stack level.
425 Here's a short script for illustration:
427 define path c:\users\fdc\somefile.txt
428 define test1 { # Normal recursive argument evaluation
431 define test2 { # Simple argument evaluation
439 And here's the result:
441 ?<ERROR:NO_SUCH_FUNCTION:\fdc\somefile.txt()>
442 test2: arg=c:\users\fdc\somefile.txt
444 The first line might seem surprising, but under the normal rules (see
445 table above) \f indicates a function call, with the letters following
446 the 'f' being the name of the function. But there is no function by
447 that name... and if there were, you probably didn't intend to call it!
449 SET COMMAND VARIABLE-EVALUATION SIMPLE has no effect on constants, only
450 on variables. Note how \m(path) is defined. The DEFINE command assigns
451 the literal value of its argument to the named variable (see Table 3
452 below), thus in this case no special syntax is needed. But in other
453 contexts, you must double the backslashes or use the \fliteral()
454 function to use literal backslashes in data:
456 test2 c:\\users\\fdc\\somefile.txt
457 test2 \fliteral(c:\users\fdc\somefile.txt)
459 C-Kermit 9.0 adds a new notation for \fliteral() which also has certain
460 advantages over it: \q(string):
462 test2 \q(c:\users\fdc\somefile.txt)
464 Since \fliteral() is a function, its argument list (the text within
465 parentheses) has special syntax of its own, in which commas and braces
466 are treated specially and introduce another set of quoting problems.
467 \q(string) doesn't have these problems. The only consideration is that
468 parentheses must be balanced or else quoted (preceded by backslash), or
469 represented as numeric character entities (left paren = \40, (right
472 Or else hold the value in a simple variable as we did with \\m(path)
475 SET COMMAND VARIABLE-EVALUATION SIMPLE is a big change and might have
476 repercussions that didn't show up in the initial tests; a lot more
479 On the topic of variables, let's summarize in one place the ways in
480 which values can be explicitly assigned to variables. There is nothing
481 new here except the table itself:
483 CAPTION: Table 2. Variable Assignment in Kermit
485 Command Shorthand Explanation
486 DEFINE name value .name = value The literal value becomes the contents
487 of the named variable; variables names in the value are copied without
488 evaluation. This command is for defining macros that take parameters,
489 as well as for defining simple variables, especially if the values
491 _DEFINE name value Like DEFINE but the name is evaluated before use.
492 ASSIGN name value .name := value The value is evaluated and the result
493 becomes the contents of the named variable.
494 _ASSIGN name value Like ASSIGN but the name is evaluated before use.
495 EVALUATE name expression .name ::= value The expression (in regular
496 algebraic notation) is evaluated arithmetically and the result becomes
497 the contents of the named variable. If the expression contains any
498 variables they are evaluated first.
499 _EVALUATE name expression Like EVALUATE but the name is evaluated
501 INCREMENT name expression Evaluates the variables in the expression,
502 then evaluates the expression arithmetically, and then adds the value
503 to the contents of the named variable, which must be a number or an
504 algebraic expression. If the expression is empty, a value of 1 is used.
505 _INCREMENT name expression Like INCREMENT but the name is evaluated
507 DECREMENT name expression Evaluates the variables in the expression,
508 then evaluates the expression arithmetically, and then subtracts the
509 value from the contents of the named variable, which must be a number
510 or an algebraic expression. If the expression is empty, a value of 1 is
512 _DECREMENT name expression Like DECREMENT but the name is evaluated
514 DECLARE name = list An array declaration can include an initializer
515 list; items in the list are evaluated before assignment. This can be
516 defeated by doubling any backslashes or enclosing individual arguments
518 DO name arguments name arguments When invoking a macro with a DO
519 command (or an implied one), the arguments are evaluated, then assigned
520 to \%1, \%2, etc, and the macro's name to \%0.
521 (SETQ name value) Kermit also includes a mini-[67]LISP interpreter
523 Variables are evaluated automatically in Kermit commands simply by
524 referencing them, according to rules given in Table 1. The following
525 functions can be used to change how a a particular variable is
528 CAPTION: Table 3. Kermit Functions for Evaluating Variables
530 Function Argument Description
531 \fcontents() \%x or \&x[y] Evaluates the variable or array element
532 (which normally would be evaluated recursively) one level deep.
533 \fdefinition() name If the argument is a \%x variable or an array
534 element, it is evaluated to get the name; otherwise the argument is the
535 name. Its definition is returned with no recursion.
536 \m() name Equivalent to \fdefinition().
537 \frecurse() \m(name) Forces recursive evaluation of a macro definition
538 (a.k.a. long variable name). NOTE: \frecurse() can operate on any kind
539 of variable as well as on any string containing any mixture of
542 C-Kermit's RENAME Command
544 C-Kermit's RENAME command, which is used for changing the names of
545 local files or for moving files locally, has two basic forms:
547 RENAME [ optional-switches ] oldfilename newfilename
548 This form lets you change the name of a single file from
549 oldfilename to newfilename. Example:
550 rename thismonth.log lastmonth.log
552 RENAME [ optional-switches ] filespec directoryname
553 This form lets you move (without renaming) one or more files
554 (all the files that match the filespec, which may contain
555 wildcard characters such as "*") to the given directory.
557 rename *.txt ~/textfiles/
559 Traditionally, the optional switches have been:
561 RENAME /LIST oldname newname
562 Display the old and new name for each file while renaming.
563 Synonyms: /LOG, /VERBOSE. Example:
564 rename /list *.txt ~/textfiles/
566 RENAME /NOLIST oldname newname
567 Don't display the old and new name for each file while renaming.
568 This is the default behavior. Synonyms: /NOLOG, /QUIET. Example:
569 rename /nolist *.txt ~/textfiles/
571 Reminder: Every switch starts with a slash (/) and must be preceded by
574 New RENAME Features for C-Kermit 9.0
576 A series of new options (switches) have been added to let you change
577 the names of multiple files at once by case conversion, string
578 substitution, or character-set conversion, and optionally also move
579 them to a different directory:
581 /LOWER: Convert the filename to lowercase
582 /UPPER: Convert the filename to uppercase
583 /CONVERT: Change the filename's character encoding
584 /REPLACE: Do string substitutions on the filename
586 If the source-file specification includes a path or directory, any
587 changes are applied to the filenames only, not to the directory or path
590 Since name changes, when applied to many files at once, can have
591 consequences that are not easily undone, there are also some new
592 controls, safeguards, and conveniences:
595 This switch tells Kermit to show you what the RENAME command
596 would do without actually doing it. /SIMULATE implies /LIST.
598 RENAME /COLLISION:{FAIL,SKIP,OVERWRITE}
599 This switch governs Kermit's behavior when renaming multiple
600 files, and any of the names would collide with the name of a
601 file that already exists. The default, for compatibility with
602 earlier releases of C-Kermit, is OVERWRITE, i.e. write over the
603 existing file. The other two protect existing files. SKIP means
604 to skip (not rename) the file that would cause the collision,
605 and proceed to the next file, if any. FAIL means that no files
606 will be renamed if there would be any collisions; for this
607 Kermit makes two passes, checking each new name it constructs
608 for existence before starting the second pass (however, there is
609 no guarantee that in the second pass, it won't create the same
610 new name for more than one file; in that case, it will stop
611 before executing the second rename). Example:
612 rename /simulate /collision:proceed * ~/tmp/
614 Reminder: In switches such as /COLLISION that take arguments
615 (operands), the switch name and its argument(s) are separated by a
616 colon (:) with no intervening spaces. Also remember that Kermit
617 keywords can always be abbreviated by leaving off characters from the
618 right, as long as the result is still unique in its context. Thus "ren
619 /col:f" would be equivalent to "rename /collision:fail".
621 You can change the following preferences for the RENAME command with
622 the new SET RENAME command:
624 SET RENAME LIST { ON, OFF }
625 Tells the RENAME command whether to list its actions if you
626 don't include a /LIST or /NOLIST or equivalent switch.
628 SET RENAME COLLISION { FAIL, OVERWRITE, SKIP }
629 Tells the RENAME command how to handle filename collisions in
630 the absence of a /COLLISION switch. That is, it replaces the
631 default action of OVERWRITE with action of your choosing, which
632 is then used in any RENAME command that does not include an
633 explicit /COLLISION switch.
636 Displays the current SET RENAME settings.
638 Changing the Case of Filenames
640 RENAME /UPPER:{ALL,LOWER} filespec [ directory ]
641 RENAME /LOWER:{ALL,UPPER} filespec [ directory ]
642 These switches let you change the alphabetic case of letters in
643 all the files whose names match the filespec. If a directory
644 name is given after the filespec, then the files are also moved
645 to the given directory.
647 By default, all files that match the given filespec have their names
648 changed (if necessary). This is what the ALL argument means, e.g.:
653 You can use either form: RENAME /LOWER is equivalent to RENAME
654 /LOWER:ALL. The other argument (/LOWER:UPPER or /UPPER:LOWER) means to
655 leave mixed-case filenames alone, and rename only those files whose
656 names contain letters of only the given case. Examples:
658 RENAME /UPPER:ALL foo.bar
659 Changes the filename to FOO.BAR.
661 RENAME /UPPER foo.bar
662 Same as "rename /upper:all foo.bar".
664 RENAME /UPPER foo.bar ~/old/
665 Renames foo.bar to FOO.BAR and moves it to the user's old
669 Changes the names of all files to have only lowercase letters.
671 RENAME /LOWER:UPPER *
672 Changes the names of only those files whose names contain no
673 lowercase letters to have only lowercase letters. For example,
674 FOO.BAR would be changed, Foo.Bar would not be changed. foo.bar
675 would not be changed either because it's already all lowercase.
677 RENAME /LOWER:UPPER * ~/new/
678 Same as the previous example, but also moves each file to the
679 user's new directory (whether it was renamed or not).
681 Case conversion works reliably for ASCII characters only. Kermit uses
682 the C library for this, which on any given platform might or might not
683 handle non-ASCII letters, and if it does, then how it works would
684 normally depend on your locale definitions (the LC_CTYPE and/or LANG
685 environment variable in Unix). When non-ASCII letters are not handled
686 by the C library, the RENAME command does change their case. For
687 example, Olga_Tañón.txt might become OLGA_TAñóN.TXT.
689 String Replacement in Filenames
691 The RENAME command also lets you change filenames by string
694 RENAME /FIXSPACES[:String] filespec [ directory ]
695 Replaces all spaces in each matching filename by the given
696 string, if any, or if none is given, by underscore. Examples:
699 RENAME /FIXSPACES:_ *
700 RENAME /FIXSPACES:"" *
701 RENAME /FIXSPACES:<040> *
703 The first two are equivalent, replacing each space with
704 underscore; a file called "My Favorite Photo.jpg" becomes
705 "My_Favorite_Photo.jpg". The third example removes all spaces
706 ("MyFavoritePhoto.jpg"). The fourth replaces each space with the
707 string "<040>" ("My<040>Favorite<040>Photo.jpg").
709 RENAME /REPLACE:{{String1}{String2}} filespec [ directory ]
710 Renames each matching file by changing occurrences of String1 in
711 its name to String2. If a directory specification is included,
712 the file is also moved to the given directory (even if the name
713 was not changed). Note that in this case, the curly braces are
714 part of the command. Example:
716 RENAME /REPLACE:{{.jpeg}{.jpg}} *
718 changes all *.jpeg files to *.jpg.
720 By default, RENAME /REPLACE changes all occurrences of String1 in each
721 filename to String2 so, for example, if you had a file called
722 abcjpegxyz.jpeg, the command just shown would change its name to
725 For greater control and flexibility, the /REPLACE: switch argument can
726 take several distinct forms:
728 RENAME /REPLACE:String1 filespec [ directory ]
729 This means to remove all occurrences of String1 from the given
730 filenames name. It is equivalent to /REPLACE:{{String1}{}}. A
731 handy use for this option is to remove spaces from filenames.
733 RENAME /REPLACE:{{String1}{String2}} filespec [ directory ]
734 As already noted, this replaces every occurrence of String1 with
735 String2 in each filename. Alphabetic case in string matching is
736 done according to the current SET CASE setting.
738 RENAME /REPLACE:{{ }{_}} filespec [ directory ]
739 This replaces all spaces in the given filenames with underscore,
740 equivalent to RENAME /FIXSPACES.
742 RENAME /REPLACE:{{String1}{String2}{Options}} filespec [ directory ]
743 Options can be included that add more control to the process.
744 The option string is a sequence of characters; each character in
745 the string is an option. The choices are:
747 A String matching is to be case-sensitive, regardless of SET CASE.
748 a String matching is to be case-independent, regardless of SET CASE.
749 ^ String replacement will occur only at the beginning of the filename.
750 $ String replacement will occur only at the end of the filename.
751 1 Only the first occurrence of the string will be replaced.
752 2 Only the second occurrence of the string will be replaced.
754 9 Only the ninth occurrence of the string will be replaced.
755 - (hyphen, minus sign) Before a digit: occurrences will be counted from
757 ~ (tilde) Before digit or minus sign: all occurrences but the given one
760 The tilde modifier works only with single-byte character sets such as
761 ASCII, CP437, ISO 8859-1, etc, but not with multibyte character sets
762 such as UCS2, UTF8, or any of the Japanese Kanji sets.
764 Here are some examples showing how to use the /REPLACE options:
766 RENAME /REPLACE:{{foo}{bar}{^}} *
767 For all files whose names start with "foo", replaces the "foo"
768 at the beginning with "bar".
770 RENAME /REPLACE:{{}{New-}{^}} *
771 Prepends "New-" to the name of each file.
773 RENAME /REPLACE:{{.jpeg}{.jpg}{$}} *
774 Replaces ".jpeg" at the end of each filename with ".jpg".
776 RENAME /REPLACE:{{}{-Old}{$}} *
777 Appends "-Old" to the name of each file.
779 RENAME /REPLACE:{{foo}{bar}{a}} *
780 Replaces "foo", "FOO", "Foo", "fOO", etc, with "bar" in each
783 RENAME /REPLACE:{{foo}{bar}{A}} *
784 Replaces only (lowercase) "foo" in filenames with "bar".
786 RENAME /REPLACE:{{a}{XX}} *
787 Changes every "a" to "XX". For example a file called "a.a.a.a"
788 would become "XX.XX.XX.XX".
790 RENAME /REPLACE:{{a}{X}{2}}
791 Changes only the second "a" to "X". For example a file called
792 "a.a.a.a" would become "a.X.a.a".
794 RENAME /REPLACE:{{a}{X}{-1}}
795 Changes only the final "a" in the filename (it doesn't have to
796 be at the end) to "X". For example a file called "a.b.a.c.a.d"
797 would become "a.b.a.c.X.d".
799 RENAME /REPLACE:{{foo}{NOTFOO}{-2}}
800 Changes the second-to-last "foo" (if any) in the filename to
803 RENAME /REPLACE:{{foo}{}{-2}}
804 Deletes the second-to-last "foo" (if any) from the filename.
806 RENAME /REPLACE:{{.}{_}{~1}}
807 Changes all but the first period to an underscore; for example,
808 "a.b.c.d.e" would become "a.b_c_d_e".
810 RENAME /REPLACE:{{.}{_}{~-1}}
811 Changes all but the final period to an underscore; for example,
812 "a.b.c.d.e" would become "a_b_c_d.e".
814 In the Options field, digits (and their modifiers), ^, and $ are
815 mutually exclusive. If you include more than one of these in the option
816 string, only the last one is used. Similarly for 'a' and 'A':
818 RENAME /REPLACE:{{foo}{bar}{Aa2$^}} *
819 This replaces "foo" with "bar" no matter what combination of
820 upper and lower case letters are used in "foo" ('a' overrides
821 'A' in the option string), but only if "foo" is at the beginning
822 of the filename ('^' overrides '$' and '2').
824 If you give an /UPPER or /LOWER switch and a /REPLACE switch in the
825 same RENAME command, the /REPLACE action occurs first, then the case
828 RENAME /REPLACE:{{foo}{bar}} /UPPER * /tmp
829 For each file: changes all occurrences of "foo" in the name to
830 "bar", then converts the result to uppercase, and then moves the
831 file to the /tmp directory. So (for example) "foot.txt" would
832 become "/tmp/BART.TXT".
834 Changing the Character Encoding of Filenames
836 As you know, text is represented on the computer as a series of
837 numbers, with a given number corresponding to a given character
838 according to some convention or standard. Filenames are represented the
839 same way. The trouble is, different computers, or even different
840 applications on the same computer, might use different standards or
841 conventions ("character sets") for representing the same characters.
842 Usually ASCII is safe, but anything beyond that -- non-ASCII characters
843 such as accented or non-Roman letters -- is likely to vary. Sometimes
844 you have text that's in the "wrong" character set and you need to
845 convert it to something you can can use. Kermit has always been able to
846 handle this as part of file transfer and terminal emulation, as well as
847 being able to convert text files locally with its TRANSLATE command.
848 Now there's a way to convert filenames too, for example after copying
849 files from a CD that uses a different encoding:
851 RENAME /CONVERT:charset1:charset2 filespec [ directory ]
852 Converts filenames from the first character set to the second
853 one. The two character sets can be chosen from the SET FILE
854 CHARACTER-SET list; for complete details see [68]this page. For
855 example suppose you have a file called "Olga_Tañón.txt" on a
856 computer where ISO 8859-1 Latin Alphabet 1 is used, and you have
857 transported it (e.g. on CDROM) to another computer where the
858 text encoding is UTF8. Maybe you also have a lot of other files
859 with similar names in the same directory. You can convert the
860 filenames to UTF8 like this:
862 RENAME /CONVERT:latin1:utf8 *
864 /CONVERT can not be combined with /UPPER, /LOWER, or /REPLACE.
866 You should NOT use UCS2 for filenames since this encoding is not
867 compatible with C strings used in Unix and elsewhere.
869 RENAME /CONVERT affects only the filename, not the file's contents. You
870 can use the TRANSLATE command to convert the encoding of the contents
875 See the [69]C-Kermit Daily Builds page for details. Very briefly:
877 * Perhaps most important, modernized makefile targets for the major
878 Unix platforms: Linux, Mac OS X, AIX, Solaris, etc. These are
879 somewhat automated; not autoconf exactly, but they cut down
880 significantly on redundant targets. For example, one single "linux"
881 target works on many (hopefully all) different Linux
882 configurations, where before different targets were required for
883 different combinations of (e.g.) curses / ncurses / no curses;
884 32-bit / 64-bit; different feature sets and library locations.
885 (Separate targets are still required for Kerberos and/or SSL
886 builds, but they are "subroutinized".)
887 * Bigger buffers, more storage for commands, macros, scripts,
888 strings, and filename expansion in 64-bit versions and in 32-bit
889 versions that support large files.
890 * User-settable FTP timeout, works on both the data and control
892 * FTP accesss to ports higher than 16383.
893 * Built-in FTP client for VMS. This is the [70]same FTP client Unix
894 C-Kermit has had since version 8.0, minimally adapted to VMS by
895 SMS, supporting binary and Stream_LF file transfer only (in other
896 words, nothing to handle RMS files), but otherwise fully functional
897 (and scriptable) and theoretically capable of making connections
898 secured by SSL (at least it compiles and links OK with SSL - HP SSL
900 * Large file support in VMS, also by SMS. Alpha and Itanium only (not
901 VAX). VMS C-Kermit was already able to transfer large files, but
902 the file-transfer display (numbers and progress bar) and statistics
903 were wrong because they used ints. In the present Alpha test
904 release, this is an optional feature requested by including the "f"
906 * New PUTENV command that allows Kermit to pass environment variables
907 to subprocesses (Unix only, "help putenv").
908 * New TOUCH command, many file selection options ("help touch").
909 * New DIRECTORY command options and switches (/TOP, /COUNT;
910 HDIRECTORY, WDIRECTORY...). To see the ten biggest files in the
911 current directory: "dir /top:10 /sort:size /reverse *" or
912 equivalently, "hdir /top:10 *". WDIR lists files in reverse
913 chronological order, shorthand for "dir /sort:date /reverse".
914 * New command FSEEK /FIND:string-or-pattern, seeks to the first line
915 in an FOPEN'd file that contains the given string or matches the
916 given pattern. Example: Suppose you have a file of lines like this:
918 quantity description...
919 in which the first "word" is a number, followed by a description
920 (for example, the name of an item). Here is how to use FSEEK to
921 quickly get the total quantity of any given item, which is passed
922 as a parameter (either a literal string or a pattern) on the
925 #!/usr/local/bin/kermit +
926 if not def \%1 exit 1 Usage: \fbasename(\%0) string-or-pattern
928 .filename = /usr/local/data/items.log # Substitute the actual filename
929 set case off # Searches are case-independent
930 fopen /read \%c \m(filename) # Open the file
931 if fail exit 1 "\m(filename): \v(errstring)" # Fail: exit with error message
932 .total = 0 # OK: Initialize the total
933 echo Searching "\%1"...
936 fseek /line /relative /find:\%1 \%c 0 # Get next line that has target
937 if fail break # Failure indicates EOF
938 fread /line \%c line # Read it
939 if fail break # (shouldn't happen)
940 increment total \fword(\m(line),1) # Increment the total
942 fclose \%c # Close the file
943 echo Total for "\%1" : \m(total) # Print the result
946 The syntax of the FSEEK command in this example indicates that each
947 search should start relative to the current file line. Since Kermit
948 is an interpretive language, FSEEK is a lot faster than FREAD'ing
949 each line and checking it for the target, especially for big files.
950 An especially handy use for FSEEK is for use with potentially huge
951 sequentially timestamped logs, to seek directly to the date-time
952 where you want to start processing. Some other improvements for the
953 FOPEN/FREAD/FWRITE/FCLOSE family of commands are included also
954 (performance, bug fixes, convenience features), listed in the
955 [71]change log. (Prior to 9.0.299 Alpha.02, the FSEEK /FIND:
956 command always started from the top.)
957 * MIME synonyms for character-set names: A new equivalence between
958 MIME names and Kermit names for character sets, with a new table
959 showing the supported sets [72]HERE (this feature is also
960 illustrated in the [73]Weblog script).
961 * Unix C-Kermit SET TERMINAL TYPE now passes its arguments to
962 subprocesses as an environment variable.
963 * SET SESSION-LOG TEXT now strips out ANSI escape sequences from the
965 * For interacting with POP servers over clear-text or SSL-secured
967 + New SSL and TLS "raw" connections (no Telnet protocol).
968 + New INPUT command options for reading and capturing (perhaps
969 while scanning) continuous incoming text, such as INPUT
970 /NOWRAP (explained [74]HERE).
971 + New \femailaddress() command to extract the e-mail address
972 from an Internet mail message To: or From: line, used in
973 fetching mail from POP servers.
974 + Improved date parsing commands and functions for parsing the
975 different date formats that can appear in e-mail.
976 + Production scripts for fetching mail from a secure POP server,
978 * Various features added to make Kermit more useful for writing CGI
979 scripts such as INPUT /COUNT:n to INPUT exactly n characters
980 (useful for reading form data).
981 * New \fpictureinfo() function for getting orientation and dimensions
982 of JPG and GIF images, described [76]HERE.
983 * New \fgetpidinfo() function for testing whether a given process
985 * \fkwdvalue() function fixed to allow multiword values.
986 * New function \fcount(s1,s2) to tell the number of occurrences of s1
988 * New \flopx() function returns rightmost field from string (such as
990 * New function \ffunction(s1) to tell whether a built-in s1 function
992 * New \fsqueeze(s1) function removes leading and trailing whitespace
993 from string s1, changes tabs to spaces, squeezing each run of
994 repeated whitespace characters to a single space.
995 * Compact substring notation: \s(somestring[12:18]) is the same as
996 \fsubstring(\m(somestring),12,18), i.e. the substring starting at
997 position 12, 18 characters long. \s(somestring[12_18]) means
998 characters 12 through 18 of the string (7 characters). Also,
999 \s(somestring[17.]) returns character number 17 of somestring.
1000 * The string indexing functions now accept an optional trailing
1001 argument specifying the occurrence number of the target string.
1002 Likewise, \fword() can fetch words from the right as well as the
1004 * The COPY command in Unix C-Kermit has a new /PRESERVE switch,
1005 equivalent to Unix "cp -p".
1006 * ASKQ /ECHO:c can be used to make the characters the user types echo
1007 as the character c, e.g. asterisk when typing a password.
1008 * IF LINK filename to test if the filename is a symlink.
1009 * Ctrl-K, when typed at the command parser, replaces itself with most
1010 recently entered file specification.
1011 * In Unix, the ability to log a terminal session to a serial port,
1012 for use with speaking devices or serial printers; described
1013 [77]HERE. Also for the same purpose, SET SESSION-LOG
1014 NULL-PADDED-LINES for a speech synthesizer than needed this.
1015 * Adaptation to OpenSSL 0.9.8 and 1.0.0.
1016 * Lifted the restriction on having a remote Kermit program send
1017 REMOTE commands to the local. A very big ex-client needed to be
1018 able to do this (branches would connect to headquarters and upload
1019 files; HQ would then download patches, a REMOTE HOST command was
1020 necessary to allow the remote headquarters machines to install the
1021 patches on the local client; of course the client first has to
1022 ENABLE HOST because this is a risky scenario). The reason for the
1023 restriction was that the server, upon receiving any REMOTE command
1024 would send the results (output) back to the client as a file
1025 transfer with "destination screen", but of course the remote has no
1027 * Added XMESSAGE, which is to [78]MESSAGE as XECHO is ECHO: it
1028 outputs a string with no line terminator DEBUG MESSAGE is ON.
1029 * Fixed \frecurse() to not dump core when invoked with no arguments.
1030 * Improved text for HELP FUNCTION SPLIT and HELP FUNCTION WORD.
1031 * Patches for Debian 6.0 "Squeeze" from Ian Beckwith.
1032 * \fcontents(\&a[3]) got an error if the array was declared but its
1033 dimension was less than 3. Now it simply returns and empty string.
1034 * \fsplit(), when parsing lines from CSV and TSV files, was treating
1035 backslash in the data the same way it treats backslash in Kermit
1036 commands. This was fixed to treat backslash like any other
1038 * Builds for Solaris 9 and later now use streams ptys rather then the
1039 old BSD-style ptys. Thanks to Gary Mills for this one, who noticed
1040 that he couldn't have more than 48 C-Kermit SSH sessions going at
1041 once and figured out why.
1042 * As noted [79]below DES encryption is being retired from many
1043 platforms and libraries that once used it. I changed the Solaris
1044 and Linux OpenSSL builds to account for this by testing for it. I
1045 probably should also add a OMITDES option to omit DES even if it is
1046 installed, but "KFLAGS=-UCK_DES" seems to do the job for now.
1047 * I changed the Linux build to test for the OpenSSL version (like the
1048 Solaris version already did), rather than assuming OpenSSL 0.9.7.
1049 * A couple minor changes for Tru64 Unix 5.1B from Steven Schweda but
1050 we still have some trouble on that platform. As a workaround "make
1051 osf1" can be used there.
1052 * Unix makefile and man page are now included in the Zip
1054 * \fjoin(), which is the inverse function of fsplit() now accepts CSV
1055 and TSV as a second argument, to transform an array into a
1056 comma-separated or tab-separated value list, as described [80]HERE.
1057 * Even in 2010, Unix distributions continue to change their UUCP
1058 lockfile conventions. C-Kermit 9.0 contains support from Joop
1059 Boonen for OpenSuSE >= 11.3 and recent Debian, which no longer have
1060 baudboy.h, which first appeared in Red Hat 7.2 in 2003.
1061 * From Lewis McCarthy:
1063 Based on code inspection, C-Kermit appears to have an SSL-related
1064 security vulnerability analogous to that identified as CVE-2009-3767
1066 [81]http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2009-3767).
1068 I'm attaching a patch for this issue relative to the revision of
1069 ck_ssl.c obtained from a copy of
1070 [82]http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ftp/test/tar/x.zip downloaded on
1071 2010/07/30, which I believe is the latest.
1072 When this flaw was first widely publicized at last year's Black Hat
1073 conference, it was claimed that some public certificate authorities
1074 had indeed issued certificates that could be used to exploit this
1075 class of vulnerability. As far as I know they have not revealed
1076 specifically which public CA(s) had been found issuing such
1077 certificates. Some references:
1078 + [83]http://www.mseclab.com/?p=180
1079 + [84]http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/30/universal_ssl_cert
1082 * Peter Eichhorn reported that "RENAME ../x ." didn't work; fixed
1084 * If only one file is FOPEN'd, FCLOSE given with no arguments would
1085 close it; this was a "convenience feature" that turned out to be
1086 dangerous. For safety FCLOSE has to require a specific channel
1087 number or the word ALL.
1088 * Added \fstrcmp(s1,s2,case,start,length), which has the advantage
1089 over IF EQU,LGT,LLT that case sensitivity can be specified as a
1090 function arg, and also substrings can be specified.
1091 * New built-in functions:
1093 \fcvtcsets(string,cs1,cs2)
1094 Function to convert a string from one character set to
1097 \fdecodehex(string[,prefix])
1098 Function to decode a string containing hex escapes.
1100 \fstringtype(string)
1101 Function to tell whether a string is 7-bit, 8-bit, or
1104 For the motivation for these features and an application that uses
1105 them to analyze web logs, see the Weblog script below.
1108 Lazy IF Conditions: Third, now you can do this:
1109 define foo some number
1113 define foo some number
1116 Of course the old way still works too. But watch out because if the
1117 variable name is the same as a symbolic IF condition (for example
1118 COUNT), it won't do what you expected. (IF COUNT was used for loop
1119 control in early versions of MS-DOS Kermit, before it got true FOR
1120 and WHILE loops; it was added to C-Kermit for compatibility, and it
1121 can't be removed because it could break existing scripts).
1122 * Escape sequences are now stripped from text-mode session logs not
1123 only in CONNECT sessions but also in whatever is logged by the
1124 INPUT command; described in the [85]next section.
1125 * New commands for selectively issuing progress or debugging messages
1126 from scripts, also described in the next section.
1127 * Fix from [86]John Dunlap to prevent the fixed packet-timeout
1128 interval from going to an unexpected value.
1129 * Alpha.04 fixes a problem with FTP connections made from 64-bit Unix
1130 platforms. All the other changes in this section were to Alpha.03.
1131 * Relaunching a closed SSH connection with the CONNECT command is now
1132 possible, as it always has been with Telnet and other connection
1133 types; suggested by Peter Eichhorn (needs testing).
1134 * A symbol conflict fixed that prevented successful build on
1136 * Fixes from Christian Corti for building on SunOS 4.1.
1137 * New aixg target for building on AIX with gcc.
1138 * New aix+ibmssl target. This is nice because the IBM-supplied SSL
1139 libraries and header files are in a known location; no need to
1140 [88]set environment variables giving their locations.
1141 * "Large File Support" is now included by default on Alpha and IA64
1142 hardware on VMS 7.3 and later, and it should work much better than
1144 * Kermit's internal FTP client is now included by default in any
1145 build that also includes TCP/IP networking. At present, the FTP
1146 client seems to work well for binary-mode transfers; text (ASCII)
1147 mode transfers still need some work. In builds that also include
1148 Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security (next item) the FTP client
1149 should be able to make securely authenticated and encrypted
1151 * In network builds that request OpenSSL support, e.g.:
1153 $ @ckvker "" "" "CK_SSL"
1154 the OpenSSL version is detected automatically and the appropriate
1155 compile-time options are emitted (such as
1156 OPENSSL_DISABLE_OLD_DES_SUPPORT).
1157 * Preliminary / limited support for the ODS-5 file system on VMS 7.2
1158 and later, Alpha and Itanium only (needs testing): Filenames can be
1159 mixed case and can be longer.
1160 * Support for older and older VMS versions.
1161 * In the VMS build procedure, CKVKER.COM, the "i" option in P1 now
1162 means don't include the internal FTP client, and the "f" option
1163 means do not include "Large File" support. Large File support in
1164 VMS really only applies to the file-transfer display and
1165 statistics, which would go out of whack as soon as the byte count
1166 overflowed 31 bits because this is C-Kermit, built with the C
1167 compiler and the C library (runtime system), which did not support
1168 long integers until VMS 7.3.
1169 * The [89]LISP Operator ROUND now takes an optional second argument
1170 that specifies the number of places to round to, e.g.
1171 (ROUND dollars 2) rounds dollars to 2 decimal places.
1172 * Improved pattern matching in many commands for both strings and
1174 * Various minor new features, plus numerous bug fixes and speedups.
1178 A top priority for new Kermit software releases has always been
1179 backwards compatibility. A script written for a previous Kermit release
1180 should run the same way in the new release.
1182 There's one exception this time. The [90]\fsplit() function is
1183 incredibly handy, it can do almost anything, up to and including
1184 parsing a LISP program (the underlying code is the basis of the
1185 [91]S-Expression interpreter). But did you ever try to use it to parse
1186 (say) a Tab-Separated-List (TSV file) or Comma-Separated-List (CSV)? It
1187 works as expected as long as the data contains only 7-bit characters.
1188 But if your data contains (say) Spanish or German or Russian text
1189 written in an 8-bit character set such as ISO 8859-1, every 8-bit
1190 character (any value 128-255) is treated as a break character. This is
1191 fixed in C-Kermit 9.0 by treating all 8-bit bytes as "include"
1192 characters rather than break characters, a total reversal of past
1193 behavior. I don't think it will affect anyone though, because if this
1194 had happened to anyone, I would have heard about it!
1196 Since most standard 8-bit character sets have control characters in
1197 positions 128-160, it might have made sense to keep 128-160 in the
1198 break set, but with the proliferation of Microsoft Windows code pages,
1199 there is no telling which 8-bit character is likely to be some kind of
1200 text, e.g. "smart quotes" or East European or Turkish accented letters.
1202 What's Not In C-Kermit 9.0
1204 Some large projects that were contemplated have not been done,
1206 * IPv6. Honestly, there has been zero demand for this, and it would
1207 be a lot of work and disruption to the code base. Volunteers
1208 welcome, I guess. It could be a CS project.
1209 * A database interface - MySQL or ODBC. For this one, there is some
1210 demand but I haven't had a chance to even look into it.
1211 * There's a looming issue with DES encryption; major vendors are
1212 removing it from their platforms, starting with Apple in Mac OS X
1213 10.6, with Microsoft to follow suit. A secure version of Kermit can
1214 be built without DES, but in limited testing successful connections
1215 were spotty (e.g. with Kerberos 5).
1216 * Cleaning up the Unix makefile. It has 25 years' worth of targets in
1217 it. It is very likely safe to remove most of them, since (a) most
1218 old platforms have gone away by now, or have been upgraded, due to
1219 hacking vulnerabilities; (b) the market has consolidated
1220 considerably; and (c) most of the new features of C-Kermit 9.0,
1221 such as large files, won't be of any use on older platforms and
1222 previous C-Kermit versions will remain available.
1223 * Packages. Everybody wants an install package custom made for their
1224 own computer, Linux RPMs being the prime example but far from the
1225 only one. These will come, I suppose (especially with some Linux
1226 sites having a policy against installing any application that does
1227 not come as an RPM). In the meantime, here's a page that describes
1228 some Kermit-specific issues in package construction:
1229 [92]ckpackages.html.
1232 Using External File-Transfer Protocols on Secure Connections
1234 After C-Kermit 8.0.212 Dev.27 (2006/12/22), I spent a big chunk of time
1235 trying to solve a particular problem that some of you have complained
1236 about and others might be familiar with: If you use C-Kermit to make a
1237 secure Telnet connection to another host (e.g. with Telnet SSL/TLS,
1238 Kerberos, or SRP) and then attempt to transfer a file using an external
1239 protocol such as Zmodem, it doesn't work.
1241 That's because as coded (through 8.0.211), C-Kermit simply starts the
1242 external protocol in a fork with its standard i/o redirected to the
1243 connection. This completely bypasses the encryption and decryption that
1244 is done by C-Kermit itself, and of course it doesn't work. The same
1245 thing occurs if you use the REDIRECT command. The routine that handles
1246 this is ttruncmd() in ckutio.c.
1248 In order to allow (say) Zmodem transfers on secure connections, it is
1249 necessary for C-Kermit to interpose itself between the external Zmodem
1250 program and the connection, decrypting the incoming stream before
1251 feeding it to Zmodem and encrypting Zmodem's output before sending out
1254 In principal, this is simple enough. We open a pseudoterminal pair
1255 ("master" and "slave") for Zmodem's i/o and we create a fork and start
1256 Zmodem in it; we read from the fork pty's standard output, encrypt, and
1257 send to the net; we read from the net, decrypt, and write to the fork
1258 pty's standard input.
1260 In practice, it's not so simple. First of all, pseudoterminals (ptys)
1261 don't seem to interface correctly with certain crucial APIs, at least
1262 not in the OS's I have tried (Mac OS X, Linux, NetBSD, etc), such as
1263 select(). And i/o with the pty often - perhaps always - fails to
1264 indicate errors when they occur; for example, when the fork has exited.
1266 But, even after coding around the apparent uselessness of select() for
1267 multiplexing pty and net, and using various tricks to detect when the
1268 external protocol exits and what its exit status is, I'm still left
1269 with a show-stopping problem: I just simply can not download (receive)
1270 a file with Zmodem, which is the main thing that people would probably
1271 want to do. I can send files just fine, but not receive. The incoming
1272 stream is delivered to Zmodem (to the pty slave) but upon arrival at
1273 the Zmodem process itself, pieces are always missing and/or corrupt.
1274 Yet I can receive files just fine if I use Kermit itself (C-Kermit or
1275 G-Kermit) as the external protocol, rather than Zmodem.
1277 I can think of two reasons why this might be the case:
1279 1. Zmodem sends all 8-bit bytes and control codes in the clear, and
1280 maybe the pty is choking on them because it thinks it is a real
1283 But Zmodem puts its controlling terminal into raw mode. And C-Kermit
1284 puts the pty into raw mode too, just for good measure. If any 0xFF
1285 codes are in the Zmodem data stream, and it's a Telnet session, Kermit
1286 does any needed byte stuffing/unstuffing automatically. Anyway, if I
1287 tell Zmodem to prefix everything, it makes no difference.
1289 2. Zmodem is a streaming protocol and perhaps the pty driver can't
1290 keep up with a sustained stream of input at network speeds. What
1291 would be the method of flow control?
1293 I can vary the size of the i/o buffers used for writing to the pty, and
1294 get different effects, but I am not able to get a clean download, no
1295 matter what buffer size I use. write()'ing to the pty does not return
1296 an error, and I can't see the errors because they happen on the master
1297 side. It's as if the path between the pty slave and master lacks flow
1298 control; I deliver a valid data stream to the pty slave and the master
1299 gets bits and pieces. This impression is bolstered somewhat by the
1300 "[93]man 7 pty" page in HP-UX, which talks about some special modes for
1301 ptys that turn off all termio processing and guarantee a
1302 flow-controlled reliable stream of bytes in both directions - a feature
1303 that seems to be specific to HP-UX, and exactly the one we need
1306 Well, in Pass One I used C-Kermit's existing pty routines from
1307 ckupty.[ch], which are well-proven in terms of portability and of
1308 actually working. They are currently used by SET HOST /PTY for making
1309 terminal connections to external processes. But these routines are
1310 written on the assumption that the pty is to be accesssed
1311 interactively, and maybe they are setting the fork/pty arrangement up
1312 in such a way that that's not suitable for file transfer. The Pass One
1313 routine is called xttptycmd() in ckutio.c.
1315 So in Pass Two I made a second copy of the routine, yttptycmd(), that
1316 manages the pty and fork itself, so all the code is in one place and
1317 it's simple and understandable. But it still doesn't work for Zmodem
1318 downloads. In this routine, I use openpty() to get the pty pair, which
1319 is not portable, so I can have accesss to both the master and slave pty
1320 file descriptors. This version can be used only a platforms that have
1321 openpty(): Linux, Mac OS X, NetBSD, etc.
1323 In Pass Three, zttptycmd(), I tried using pipes instead of ptys, in
1324 case ptys are simply not up to this task (but that can't be true
1325 because if I make a Telnet or SSH connection into a host, I can send
1326 files to it with Zmodem, and the remote Zmodem receiver is, indeed,
1327 running on a pty). But pipes didn't work either.
1329 In Pass Four, I extracted the relevant routines into a standalone
1330 program based on yttptycmd() (the openpty() version, for simplicity),
1331 which I tested on Mac OS X, the idea being to rule out any
1332 "environmental" effects of running inside the C-Kermit process. There
1333 was no difference -- Kermit transfers (with C-Kermit itself as the
1334 external protocol) worked; Zmodem transfers (neither sz or lsz) did
1337 Well, it's a much longer story. As the external protocol, I've tried
1338 rzsz, crzsz, and lrzsz. We know that some of these have quirks
1339 regarding standard i/o, etc, which is one of the reasons for using ptys
1340 in the first place, and i/o does work - just not reliably. Anyway, the
1341 1100 lines or so of [94]ckc299.txt, starting just below where it says
1342 "--- Dev.27 ---" tell the full story. At this point I have to give up
1343 and move on; it might be more productive to let somebody else who has
1344 more experience with ptys take a look at it - if indeed anyone still
1345 cares about being able to do Zmodem transfers over secure Telnet
1348 C-Kermit 9.0 contains the three new routines (and some auxiliary ones),
1349 but they are not compiled or called unless you build it specially:
1351 make targetname KFLAGS=-DXTTPTYCMD (builds with xttptycmd())
1352 make targetname KFLAGS=-DYTTPTYCMD (builds with yttptycmd())
1353 make targetname KFLAGS=-DZTTPTYCMD (builds with zttptycmd())
1355 These are all in [95]ckutio.c. As noted, the second one works only for
1356 Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and Mac OS X, because it uses non-POSIX,
1357 non-portable openpty(). If you want to try it on some other platform
1358 that has openpty(), you can build it like this:
1360 make targetname "KFLAGS=-DYTTPTYCMD -DHAVE_OPENPTY"
1362 (and let me know, so I can have HAVE_OPENPTY predefined for that
1363 platform too). The best strategy to get this working, I think, would be
1364 to concentrate on yttptycmd(), which is the simpler of the two
1365 pty-based routines. If it can be made to work, then we'll see if we can
1366 retrofit it to use the ckupty.c routines so it will be portable to
1369 By the way, if you build with any of [XYZ]TTPTYCMD defined, then the
1370 selected routine will always be used in place of ttruncmd(). This is to
1371 allow testing on all kinds of connections, not just secure ones, in
1372 both local and remote mode. Once the thing works, if it ever does, I'll
1373 add the appropriate tests and/or commands.
1375 By default, in the initial test release, C-Kermit 9.0 uses ttruncmd()
1376 on serial connections and ttyptycmd() on network connections. Even when
1377 a network connection is not encrypted, Kermit still needs to handle the
1378 network protocol, e.g. the quoting of 0xff bytes on Telnet connections.
1380 Demonstration: Fetch Mail from POP Server Secured by SSL
1382 [96]pop.ksc is a fully elaborated production script for fetching one's
1383 mail from a POP3 server over a connection secured by SSL. For
1384 explanation and documentation, [97]CLICK HERE. [98]mailcheck is a
1385 wrapper for the pop.ksc script, which collects your password one time,
1386 and then checks for new mail every 5 minutes (or other selected
1387 interval) and calls pop.ksc to fetch it if there is any.
1389 Demonstration: HP Switch Configuration Backup
1391 A common use for Kermit software is to make automated backups of the
1392 configuration of network switches and routers, such as those made by
1393 Cisco or Hewlett-Packard (although [99]tftp can be used for this, it is
1394 not available in all such devices; Kermit, however, works with those
1395 that have tftp as well as those that don't).
1397 Typically a backup can be done by making a Telnet, SSH, or serial
1398 connection to the device with Kermit and giving a command such as "show
1399 config" at the command-line prompt of the device with Kermit's session
1400 log activated. The result is a list of the commands that were used to
1401 establish the current configuration, suitable for feeding back to the
1402 device's console (e.g. with C-Kermit's TRANSMIT command) to reestablish
1403 the same configuration or to duplicate it on another device.
1405 At an HP installation it was noted, however, that while the HP switches
1406 (various ProCurve models) produced the desired list of commands, they
1407 were interspersed with escape sequences for special effects, thus
1408 rendering the recorded sessions unsuitable for feeding back into the
1411 C-Kermit 9.0 introduces a new feature to strip the offending sequences
1412 out of a session log, leaving just the text. The command SET
1413 SESSION-LOG TEXT activates this feature. In C-Kermit 9.0 Alpha.02 and
1414 earlier, escape sequence stripping occurred only while logging
1415 interactive (CONNECT) sessions; beginning with Alpha.03 it is done also
1416 for data that is read by INPUT commands and therefore works for scripts
1419 A sample HP Switch Configuration Backup script is [100]HERE, and its
1420 data file is [101]HERE. This script also illustrates some other new
1421 features of Alpha.03:
1424 This lets you put debugging messages in your script that can be
1425 displayed or not, according to SET DEBUG MESSAGE (below). This
1426 way you don't have to change your script for debugging. Hint:
1427 In Unix, invoke the script like this:
1429 $ DEBUG=1 scriptname arg1 arg2...
1431 and then include the following command in your script:
1433 if defined \$(DEBUG) set debug message on
1436 Like MESSAGE but prints the text with no line terminator, so it
1437 can be continued by subsequent messages.
1439 SET DEBUG MESSAGE { ON, OFF, STDERR }
1440 ON means MESSAGE commands should print to standard output; OFF
1441 means they shouldn't print anything; STDERR means the messages
1442 should be printed to [102]stderr. DEBUG MESSAGE is OFF by
1443 default, i.e. unless you SET it to ON or STDERR.
1446 Executes the command if SET DEBUG MESSAGE is not OFF.
1448 The \v(lastcommand) variable
1449 This variable contains the previous command. You can use it in
1450 debugging and error message to show (for example) exactly what
1451 the command was that just failed, without having to make a copy
1454 set host somehost.somecompany.com
1455 if fail exit 1 "FATAL - \v(lastcommand)"
1457 which, if the SET HOST command fails, prints "FATAL - set host
1458 somehost.somecompany.com" and then exits with status 1 (which
1459 normally indicates failure).
1461 Demonstration: HP iLO Blade Configuration
1463 [103]THIS DOCUMENT describes a script in production use at Columbia
1464 University for configuring and deploying racks full of HP blade servers
1465 through their "integrated Lights Out" (iLO) management interface,
1466 bypassing the tedious and error-prone process of configuring the
1467 servers one by one through the vendor-provided point-and-click Web
1468 interface, which is ill-suited to configuring large numbers of blades.
1469 The script illustrates some of C-Kermit 9.0's new features; source code
1470 is available through the link. The code is apt to change from time to
1471 time as new requirements surface.
1473 Demonstration: IBM/Rolm/Siemens CBX Management
1475 [104]THIS DOCUMENT describes a suite of scripts (some in production,
1476 some in development) used to manage the Columbia campus 20,000-line
1477 main telephone switch, along with about 10 satellite switches at
1478 off-campus locations. These switches are 1980s technology*, their
1479 management consoles are serial ports. Access is via Telnet to reverse
1480 terminal servers. The scripts allow for interactive sessions as well as
1481 automatic production (and in some cases formatting) of different
1482 reports required by different groups at different intervals. These
1483 scripts replace a whole assortment of ad-hoc ProComm ASPECT scripts
1484 that were scattered all over the place, with passwords embedded. The
1485 new scripts are intended to be run from a centralized server where
1486 there is a single well-secured configuration file, and where they can
1487 be used on demand, or in cron jobs. They are modular so code
1488 duplication is minimal.
1489 __________________________
1490 * Of course the University is deploying new technology but the but the
1491 old system will be used in parallel for some time to come.
1493 Demonstration: CSV and TSV Files
1497 * [105]Reading a CSV or TSV Record and Converting it to an Array
1498 * [106]Using \fjoin() to create a Comma- or Tab-Separated Value List
1500 * [107]Using CSV or TSV Files
1502 Comma-Separated Value (CSV) format is commonly output by spreadsheets
1503 and databases when exporting data into plain-text files for import into
1504 other applications. Here are the details:
1506 Comma-Separated List Syntax
1508 1. Each record is a series of fields.
1509 2. Records are in whatever format is used by the underlying file
1510 system for lines of text.
1511 3. Fields within records are separated by commas, with zero or more
1512 whitespace characters (space or tab) before and/or after the comma;
1513 such whitespace is considered part of the separator.
1514 4. Fields with embedded commas must be enclosed in ASCII doublequote
1516 5. Fields with leading or trailing spaces must be enclosed in ASCII
1518 6. Any field may be enclosed in ASCII doublequotes.
1519 7. Fields with embedded doublequotes must be enclosed in doublequotes
1520 and each interior doublequote is doubled.
1524 aaa, bbb, has spaces,,"ddd,eee,fff", " has spaces ","Muhammad ""The Greatest"" A
1527 The first two are regular fields. The second is a field that has an
1528 embedded space but in which any leading or trailing spaces are to be
1529 ignored. The fourth is an empty field, but still a field. The fifth is
1530 a field that contains embedded commas. The sixth has leading and
1531 trailing spaces. The last field has embedded quotation marks.
1533 Prior to C-Kermit 9.0 Alpha.06, C-Kermit did not handle CSV files
1534 according to the specification above. Most seriously, there was no
1535 provision for a separator to be surrounded by whitespace that was to be
1536 considered part of the separator. Also there was no provision for
1537 quoting doublequotes inside of a quoted string.
1539 Reading a CSV record
1541 Now the \fsplit() function can handle any CSV-format string if you
1542 include the symbolic include set "CSV" as the 4th parameter. To
1543 illustrate, this program:
1546 echo [\fcontents(\%1)]
1547 .\%9 := \fsplit(\fcontents(\%1), &a, \44, CSV)
1548 for \%i 1 \%9 1 { echo "\flpad(\%i,3). [\&a[\%i]]" }
1553 xx { aaa,,ccc," with spaces ",zzz }
1554 xx { "1","2","3","","5" }
1555 xx { this is a single field }
1556 xx { this is one field, " and this is another " }
1557 xx { name,"Mohammad ""The Greatest"" Ali", age, 67 }
1558 xx { """field enclosed in doublequotes""" }
1561 gives the following results:
1573 [ aaa,,ccc," with spaces ",zzz ]
1580 [ "1","2","3","","5" ]
1587 [ this is a single field ]
1588 1. [this is a single field]
1590 [ this is one field, " and this is another " ]
1591 1. [this is one field]
1592 2. [ and this is another ]
1594 [ name,"Mohammad ""The Greatest"" Ali", age, 67 ]
1596 2. [Mohammad "The Greatest" Ali]
1600 [ """field enclosed in doublequotes""" ]
1601 1. ["field enclosed in doublequotes"]
1604 The separator \44 (comma) must still be specified as the break set (3rd
1605 \fsplit() parameter). When "CSV" is specified as the include set:
1606 * The Grouping Mask is automatically set to 1 (which specifies that
1607 the ASCII doublequote character (") is used for grouping;
1608 * The Separator Flag is automatically set to 1 so that adjacent field
1609 separators will not be collapsed;
1610 * All bytes (values 0 through 255) other than the break character are
1611 added to the include set;
1612 * Any leading whitespace is stripped from the first element unless it
1613 is enclosed in doublequotes;
1614 * Any trailing whitespace is trimmed from the end of the last element
1615 unless it is enclosed in doublequotes;
1616 * If the separator character has any spaces or tabs preceding it or
1617 following it, they are ignored and discarded;
1618 * The separator character is treated as an ordinary data character if
1619 it appears in a quoted field;
1620 * A sequence of two doublequote characters ("") within a quoted field
1621 is converted to a single doublequote.
1623 There is also a new TSV symbolic include set, which is like CSV except
1624 without the quoting rules or the stripping of whitespace around the
1625 separator because, by definition, TSV fields do not contain tabs.
1627 Of course you can specify any separator(s) you want with either the
1628 CSV, TSV, or ALL symbolic include sets. For example, if you have a TSV
1629 file in which you want the spaces around each Tab to be discarded, you
1632 \fsplit(variable, &a, \9, CSV)
1636 The new symbolic include sets can also be used with \fword(), which is
1637 just like \fsplit() except that it retrieves the nth word from the
1638 argument string, rather than an array of all the words. In C-Kermit you
1639 can get information about these or any other functions with the HELP
1640 FUNCTION command, e.g.:
1642 C-Kermit> help func word
1644 Function \fword(s1,n1,s2,s3,n2,n3) - Extracts a word from a string.
1646 n1 = word number (1-based) counting from left; if negative, from right.
1647 s2 = optional break set.
1648 s3 = optional include set (or ALL, CSV, or TSV).
1649 n2 = optional grouping mask.
1650 n3 = optional separator flag:
1651 0 = collapse adjacent separators;
1652 1 = don't collapse adjacent separators.
1654 \fword() returns the n1th "word" of the string s1, according to the
1655 criteria specified by the other parameters.
1657 The BREAK SET is the set of all characters that separate words. The
1658 default break set is all characters except ASCII letters and digits.
1659 ASCII (C0) control characters are treated as break characters by default,
1660 as are spacing and punctuation characters, brackets, and so on, and
1661 all 8-bit characters.
1663 The INCLUDE SET is the set of characters that are to be treated as
1664 parts of words even though they normally would be separators. The
1665 default include set is empty. Three special symbolic include sets are
1668 ALL (meaning include all bytes that are not in the break set)
1669 CSV (special treatment for Comma-Separated-Value records)
1670 TSV (special treatment for Tab-Separated-Value records)
1672 For operating on 8-bit character sets, the include set should be ALL.
1674 If the GROUPING MASK is given and is nonzero, words can be grouped by
1675 quotes or brackets selected by the sum of the following:
1677 1 = doublequotes: "a b c"
1679 4 = apostrophes: 'a b c'
1680 8 = parentheses: (a b c)
1681 16 = square brackets: [a b c]
1682 32 = angle brackets: <a b c>
1684 Nesting is possible with {}()[]<> but not with quotes or apostrophes.
1687 Word number n1, if there is one, otherwise an empty string.
1694 Using \fjoin() to create Comma- or Tab-Separated Value Lists from Arrays
1696 In C-Kermit 9.0, \fsplit()'s inverse function, [108]\fjoin() received
1697 the capability of converting an array into a comma-separated or a
1698 tab-separated value list. Thus, given a CSV, if you split it into an
1699 array with \fsplit() and then join the array with \fjoin(), giving each
1700 function the new CSV parameter in the appropriate argument position,
1701 the result will be will be equivalent to the original, according to the
1702 CSV definition. It might not be identical, because if the result had
1703 extraneous spaces before or after the separating commas, these are
1704 discarded, but that does not affect the elements themselves. The new
1705 syntax for \fjoin() is:
1708 Given the array \&a[] or any other valid array designator, joins
1709 its elements into a comma-separated list according to the
1710 [109]rules listed above.
1713 Joins the elements of the given array into a tab-separated list,
1714 also described above.
1716 [110]Previous calling conventions for \fjoin() are undisturbed,
1717 including the ability to specify a portion of an array, rather than the
1720 declare \&a[] = 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1721 echo \fjoin(&a[3:7],CSV)
1724 Using \fsplit() and \fjoin() it is now possible to convert a
1725 comma-separated value list into a tab-separated value list, and vice
1726 versa (which is not a simple matter of changing commas to tabs or vice
1729 Applications for CSV Files
1731 Databases such as MS Access or MySQL can export tables or reports in
1732 CSV format, and then Kermit can read the resulting CSV file and do
1733 whatever you like with it; typically something that could not be done
1734 with the database query language itself (or that you didn't know how to
1735 do that way): create reports or datasets based on complex criteria or
1736 procedures, edit or modify some fields, etc, and then use \fjoin() to
1737 put each record back in CSV form so it can be reimported into a
1738 spreadsheet or database.
1740 Here is a simple example in which we purge all records of customers who
1741 have two or more unpaid bills. The file is sorted so that each license
1742 purchase record is followed by its annual maintenance payment records
1743 in chronological order.
1745 #!/usr/local/bin/kermit
1746 .filename = somefile.csv # Input file in CSV format
1747 fopen /read \%c \m(filename) # Open it
1748 if fail exit # Don't go on if open failed
1749 copy \m(filename) ./new # Make a copy of the file
1751 .oldserial = 00000000000 # Multiple records for each serial number
1752 .zeros = 0 # Unpaid bill counter
1755 fread /line \%c line # Get a record
1756 if fail exit # End of file
1757 .n := \fsplit(\m(line),&a,\44,CSV) # Split the fields into an array
1758 if not equ "\m(oldserial)" "\&a[6]" { # Have new serial number?
1759 # Remove all records for previous serial number
1760 # if two or more bills were not paid...
1762 grep /nomatch \m(oldserial) /output:./new2 ./new
1765 .oldserial := \&a[6] # To detect next time serial number changes
1766 .zeros = 0 # Reset unpaid bill counter
1768 if equ "\&a[5]" "$0.00" { # Element 5 is amount paid
1769 increment zeros # If it's zero, count it.
1774 Rewriting the file multiple times is inelegant, but this is a quick and
1775 dirty use-once-and-discard script, so elegance doesn't count. The
1776 example is interesting in that it purges certain records based on the
1777 contents of other records. Maybe there is a way to do this directly
1778 with SQL, but why use SQL when you can use Kermit?
1780 Here is the same task but this time no shelling out, and this time we
1781 do change and add some fields and then join the result back into a CSV
1782 record and write it out to a new file. The object is to create a record
1783 for each license that shows not only the date and purchase price of the
1784 license but also the date and amount of the last maintenance payment,
1785 and to add new fields for sorting by anniversary (month and day):
1787 #!usr/local/bin/kermit +
1788 cd ~/somedirectory # CD to appropriate directory
1789 if fail exit 1 # Make sure we did
1790 .filename := \%1 # Filename from command line
1791 if not def filename { # If none give usage message
1792 exit 1 "Usage: \%0: infile [ outfile ]"
1794 fopen /read \%c \m(filename) # Open the input CSV file
1795 if fail exit # Make sure we did
1797 .output := \%2 # Output filename from command line
1798 if not def output { # Supply one if not given
1799 .output := New_\m(filename)
1801 fopen /write \%o \m(output) # Open output file
1802 if fail exit # Check that we did
1804 .serial = 00000000000 # Initialize serial number
1805 .licenses = 0 # and license counter
1807 fread /line \%c line # First line is column labels
1808 if fail exit # Check
1809 fwrite /line \%o "\m(line),AMM_DD,AYYYY" # Write new labels line
1811 # Remaining lines are license purchases (K95B) followed by zero or more
1812 # maintenance invoices (K95BM) for each license.
1814 .datepaid = 00/00/0000 # Initialize last maint payment date
1815 .amtpaid = $0.00 # Initialize last maint payment amount
1816 set flag off # For remembering we're at end of file
1817 while not flag { # Loop to read all records
1818 fread /line \%c line # Read a record
1819 if fail set flag on # If EOF set flag for later
1820 .n := \fsplit(\m(line),&a,\44,CSV) # Break record into array
1821 if ( flag || equ "\&a[3]" "K95B" ) { # License or EOF
1822 if fail exit 1 "FAILED: \v(lastcommand)"
1823 if licenses { # If this is not the first license
1824 .\&x[5] := \m(amtpaid) # Substitute most recent amount paid
1825 .\&x[21] := \m(datepaid) # Substitute most recent date paid
1826 void \fsplit(\&x[18],&d,/) # Break up original (anniversary) date
1827 # and put mm_dd and yyyy in separate fields for sorting...
1828 fwrite /line \%o "\fjoin(&x,CSV),\flpad(\&d[1],2,0)_\flpad(\&d[2],2,
1830 if fail exit 1 WRITE # Check for error
1831 xecho . # Show progress as one dot per record
1833 if flag break # We're at EOF so we're finished
1834 increment licenses # New license - count it
1835 array copy &a &x # Keep this record while reading next
1836 .serial := \&a[6] # Remember serial number
1837 .datepaid = 00/00/0000 # Initial maintenance payment date
1838 .amtpaid = $0.00 # and amount
1839 continue # and go back to read next record
1841 if not eq "\m(serial)" "\&a[6]" { # Catch out-of-sequence record
1843 echo "SEQUENCE: \m(serial)..\&a[6]: \&a[7] [\&a[1]]"
1846 if equ "\&a[5]" "" .\&a[5] = $0.00 # If amount is empty make it $0.00
1847 if not equ "\&a[5]" "$0.00" { # If amount is not $0.00
1848 .datepaid := \&a[21] # remember date paid
1849 .amtpaid := \&a[5] # and amount paid
1852 fclose ALL # Done - close all files and exit
1856 The result imports back into Excel, where it can be sorted, formatted,
1857 or otherwise manipulated as desired.
1859 Using CSV Files: Extending Kermit's Data Structures
1861 Now that we can parse a CSV record, what would we do with a CSV file -
1862 that is, a sequence of records? If we needed all the data available at
1863 once, we would want to load it into a matrix of (row,column) values.
1864 But Kermit doesn't have matrices. Or does it?
1866 Kermit has several built-in data types, but you can invent your own
1867 data types as needed using Kermit's macro feature:
1869 define variablename value
1873 define alphabet abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1875 This defines a macro named alphabet and gives it the value
1876 abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz. A more convenient notation (added in
1877 C-Kermit 7.0, see [111]Table 2) for this is:
1879 .alphabet = abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1881 The two are exactly equivalent: they make a literal copy the "right
1882 hand side" as the value of the macro. Then you can refer to the macro
1883 anywhere in a Kermit command as "\m(macroname)":
1885 echo "Alphabet = \m(alphabet)"
1887 There is a second way to define a macro, which is like the first except
1888 that the right-hand side is evaluated first; that is, any variable
1889 references or function calls in the right-hand side are replaced by
1890 their values before the result is assigned to the macro. The command
1891 for this is ASSIGN rather than DEFINE:
1893 define alphabet abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1894 assign backwards \freverse(\m(alphabet))
1895 echo "Alphabet backwards = \m(backwards)"
1899 Alphabet backwards = zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba
1901 This kind of assignment can also be done like this:
1903 .alphabet = abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1904 .backwards := \freverse(\m(alphabet))
1906 [112]Any command starting with a period is an assignment, and the
1907 operator (= or :=) tells what to do with the right-hand side before
1908 making the assignment.
1910 In both the DEFINE and ASSIGN commands, the variable name itself is
1911 taken literally. It is also possible, however, to have Kermit compute
1912 the variable name. This is done (as described in [113]Using C-Kermit,
1913 2nd Ed., p.457), using parallel commands that start with underscore:
1914 _DEFINE and _ASSIGN (alias _DEF and _ASG). These are just like DEFINE
1915 and ASSIGN except they evaluate the variable name before making the
1916 assignment. For example:
1919 _define \%a\%a\%a 111
1921 would create a macro named ONEONEONE with a value of 111, and:
1925 _assign \%a\%a\%a \m(number)
1927 would create the same macro with the same value, but:
1931 _define \%a\%a\%a \m(number)
1933 would give the macro a value of "\m(number)".
1935 You can use the _ASSIGN command to create any kind of data structure
1936 you want; you can find some examples in the [114]Object-Oriented
1937 Programming section of the [115]Kermit Script Library. In the following
1938 program we use this capability to create a two-dimensional array, or
1939 matrix, to hold the all the elements of the CSV file, and then to
1942 fopen /read \%c data.csv # Open CSV file
1946 .\%m = 0 # Maximum columns
1948 fread /line \%c line # Read a record
1949 if fail break # End of file
1950 .\%n := \fsplit(\m(line),&a,\44,CSV) # Split record into items
1951 incr \%r # Count this row
1952 for \%i 1 \%n 1 { # Assign items to this row of matrix
1953 _asg a[\%r][\%i] \&a[\%i]
1955 if > \%i \%m { .\%m := \%i } # Remember width of widest row
1957 fclose \%c # Close CSV file
1958 decrement \%m # (because of how FOR loop works)
1959 echo MATRIX A ROWS: \%r COLUMNS: \%m # Show the matrix
1961 for \%i 1 \%r 1 { # Loop through rows
1962 for \%j 1 \%m 1 { # Loop through columns of each row
1963 xecho "\flpad(\m(a[\%i][\%j]),6)"
1969 The matrix is called a and its elements are a[1][1], a[1][2], a[1][3],
1970 ... a[2][1], etc, and you can treat this data structure exactly like a
1971 two-dimensional array, in which you can refer to any element by its "X
1972 and Y coordinates". For example, if the CSV file contained numeric data
1973 you could compute row and column sums using simple FOR loops and
1974 Kermit's built-in one-dimensional array data type:
1976 declare \&r[\%r] # Make an array for the row sums
1977 declare \&c[\%m] # Make an array for the column sums
1978 for \%i 1 \%r 1 { # Loop through rows
1979 for \%j 1 \%m 1 { # Loop through columns of each row
1980 increment \&r[\%i] \m(a[\%i][\%j]) # Accumulate row sum
1981 increment \&c[\%j] \m(a[\%i][\%j]) # Accumulate column sum
1985 Note that the sum arrays don't have to be initialized to zero because
1986 Kermit's INCREMENT command treats empty definitions as zero.
1988 Demonstration Scripts for Webmasters
1990 These scripts all use new features of C-Kermit 9.0.
1993 A C-Kermit 9.0 script to build sitemap.xml for a website,
1994 complete with Google image extensions (this is the file used by
1995 webmasters to get their sites crawled and indexed optimally).
1997 [117]The Weblog Script
1998 Reads a web log, extracts the Google searches, normalizes the
1999 search strings, and prints the top 20 searches, along with their
2002 [118]The Amazon Script
2003 Reads an Amazon Associate orders report and lists the products
2004 according to the number of orders for each, or the number of
2008 Makes a website from a collection of JPG images.
2010 [120]Home [121]Kermit 95 [122]C-Kermit [123]Scripts [124]Current
2011 [125]New [126]FAQ [127]Support
2014 C-Kermit 9.0 / [128]The Kermit Project / [129]Columbia University /
2015 [130]kermit@columbia.edu / [131]validate
2019 1. http://www.columbia.edu/
2020 2. mailto:kermit@columbia.edu
2021 3. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/index.html
2022 4. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/k95.html
2023 5. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit.html
2024 6. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckscripts.html
2025 7. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/current.html
2026 8. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/whatsnew.html
2027 9. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/faq.html
2028 10. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/support.html
2029 11. http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/books/#menagerie
2030 12. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ck90tables.html
2031 13. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1555581641?ie=UTF8&tag=aleidmoreldom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1555581641
2032 14. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit.html#download
2033 15. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#LargeFiles
2034 16. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#TestLargeFiles
2035 17. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#Bignums
2036 18. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#force3
2037 19. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#Vareval
2038 20. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#rename
2039 21. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#Other
2040 22. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#Incompatibilities
2041 23. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#NotIn9.0
2042 24. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#LooseEnd
2043 25. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#pop
2044 26. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#HPswitch
2045 27. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#iLO
2046 28. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#Rolm
2047 29. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#CSV
2048 30. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#Otherdemos
2049 31. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ck60manual.html
2050 32. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ACPF9M?ie=UTF8&tag=aleidmoreldom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002ACPF9M
2051 33. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit70.html
2052 34. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit80.html
2053 35. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckscripts.html
2054 36. http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/dec20.html
2055 37. mailto:fdc@columbia.edu
2056 38. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/k95.html
2057 39. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/cu-bsd-license.html
2058 40. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#LargeFiles
2059 41. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ck90tables.html
2060 42. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ck90tables.html
2061 43. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#force3
2062 44. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#Vareval
2063 45. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckrename.html
2064 46. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/csv.html
2065 47. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/csetnames.html
2066 48. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#HPswitch
2067 49. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckdaily.html
2068 50. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/cu-bsd-license.html
2069 51. http://www.opensource.org/
2070 52. http://kermit.columbia.edu/ck90tables.html#LF
2071 53. ftp://kermit.columbia.edu/kermit/utils/bigfile.c
2072 54. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit80.html#x9
2073 55. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ck90tables.html#LF
2074 56. ftp://kermit.columbia.edu/kermit/scripts/ckermit/easter2
2075 57. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/em-apex.html
2076 58. http://www.iridium.com/
2077 59. http://science1.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/09jan_electrichurricanes/
2078 60. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ek.html
2079 61. ftp://kermit.columbia.edu/kermit/ek/simirid/
2080 62. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ek.html
2081 63. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit70.html#x7.10.10
2082 64. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/csv.html
2083 65. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit70.html#x1.11
2084 66. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit70.html
2085 67. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit80.html#x9
2086 68. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/csetnames.html
2087 69. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckdaily.html
2088 70. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ftpclient.html
2089 71. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckdaily.html
2090 72. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/csetnames.html
2091 73. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#Otherdemos
2092 74. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/input_nowrap.html
2093 75. http://www.columbia.edu/~fdc/mm/index.html
2094 76. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/photoalbum.html
2095 77. http://www.columbia.edu/~fdc/kermit/logserial.html
2096 78. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#message
2097 79. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#NotIn9.0
2098 80. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/csv.html#join
2099 81. http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2009-3767
2100 82. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ftp/test/tar/x.zip
2101 83. http://www.mseclab.com/?p=180
2102 84. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/30/universal_ssl_certificate/
2103 85. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#HPswitch
2104 86. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/em-apex.html
2105 87. http://www.freebsd.org/releases/8.0R/announce.html
2106 88. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/security81.html#x4.2.3
2107 89. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit80.html#x9
2108 90. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit80.html#x8.7.2
2109 91. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit80.html#x9
2110 92. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckpackages.html
2111 93. http://docs.hp.com/en/B9106-90013/pty.7.html
2112 94. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/test/text/ckc299.txt
2113 95. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/test/text/ckutio.c
2114 96. http://www.columbia.edu/~fdc/mm/pop
2115 97. http://www.columbia.edu/~fdc/mm/
2116 98. http://www.columbia.edu/~fdc/mm/mailcheck
2117 99. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trivial_File_Transfer_Protocol
2118 100. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ftp/scripts/ckermit/gethpconfig
2119 101. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ftp/scripts/ckermit/TestSwitches.txt
2120 102. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_streams
2121 103. http://kermit.columbia.edu/cudocs/ilosetup.html
2122 104. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/cudocs/cbx.html
2123 105. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#record
2124 106. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#join
2125 107. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#file
2126 108. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit80.html#fjoin
2127 109. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#rules
2128 110. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit80.html#fjoin
2129 111. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit90.html#varasg
2130 112. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit70.html#x7.9
2131 113. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1555581641?ie=UTF8&tag=aleidmoreldom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1555581641
2132 114. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckscripts.html#oops
2133 115. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckscripts.html
2134 116. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ksitemap.html
2135 117. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/weblog.html
2136 118. http://kermit.columbia.edu/ftp/scripts/ckermit/amazon
2137 119. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/photoalbum.html
2138 120. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/index.html
2139 121. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/k95.html
2140 122. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckermit.html
2141 123. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ckscripts.html
2142 124. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/current.html
2143 125. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/whatsnew.html
2144 126. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/faq.html
2145 127. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/support.html
2146 128. http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/index.html
2147 129. http://www.columbia.edu/
2148 130. mailto:kermit@columbia.edu
2149 131. http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fkermit.columbia.edu%2Fckermit90.html