---
title: "Ascii Dump"
type: "article"
slug: "ascii-dump"
url: "http://localhost/article/ascii-dump/"
markdown_url: "http://localhost/article/ascii-dump.md"
published_at: "2025-11-26T20:17:47+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-06-21T23:26:05+00:00"
featured_image:
  url: "http://localhost/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20230809-041332.jpg"
excerpt: "In writing strip_c and converting the file to an ascii file, I needed to know what ascii characters were in the file that I would need to strip out. A number of ascii characters are not used in text files, ones like End of Transmission, Acknowlegement, and so on. On a Unix system, there is…"
category:
  - name: "QL Hacker's Journal"
    slug: "ql-hackers-journal"
    taxonomy: "category"
    url: "http://localhost/category/periodicals/ql-hackers-journal/"
post_tag:
  - name: "C (programming language)"
    slug: "c-programming-language"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/c-programming-language/"
  - name: "Full Text"
    slug: "fulltext"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/fulltext/"
  - name: "QL"
    slug: "ql"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/ql/"
  - name: "Type-in program"
    slug: "type-in-program"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/type-in-program/"
model:
  - name: "Sinclair QL"
    slug: "sinclair-ql"
    taxonomy: "model"
    url: "http://localhost/model/sinclair-ql/"
indiv:
  - name: "Tim Swenson"
    slug: "tim-swenson"
    taxonomy: "indiv"
    url: "http://localhost/indiv/tim-swenson/"
publication_r:
  id: 33686
  title: "QL Hacker’s Journal"
  type: "periodical"
  url: "http://localhost/periodical/ql-hackers-journal/"
authors_r:
  - name: "Tim Swenson"
    slug: "tim-swenson"
    taxonomy: "indiv"
    url: "http://localhost/indiv/tim-swenson/"
issue: "8"
issues_articles:
  - id: 61544
    title: "QL Hacker’s Journal 8"
    type: "issue"
    url: "http://localhost/issue/ql-hackers-journal-8/"
pubdate: "March 1992"
archive_link: true
---

# Ascii Dump

In writing strip_c and converting the file to an ascii file, I needed to know what ascii characters were in the file that I would need to strip out. A number of ascii characters are not used in text files, ones like End of Transmission, Acknowlegement, and so on.

On a Unix system, there is a program called od, for Octal Dump. Od will take a file and output it in Octal, Hexidecimal, or Ascii. It’s usefull to see all non-printing codes. I only used od with the -a (for Ascii) option. I’m not so good at reading Octal or Hex.

Instead of going to a Unix system to check this file out, I decided to write a version of od for the QL. Since I only use od with ascii output, I limited my program to just the ascii option. Of course, I could no longer call my version od, so it is now called ad for Ascii Dump.

The constant WIDTH is the number of ascii characters is printed on a single line. It is set for 10 characters, but you can set it as wide as you want, limited only by your screen width.

```
/* ad_c
   Ascii Dump
     Will compile under Small-C
*/

#include <stdio_h>
#define WIDTH   10

main() {
   char c, file[30];

   int   fd, count;

   printf("Enter Input File Name : \n");
   gets(file);

   fd = fopen(file,"r");
   if (fd == NULL)  {
      printf("Did not open file: %s",file);
      abort(1);
   }

   count = 0;

   while (( c = getc(fd)) != EOF) {
      if ( c == 0 )  printf("nul ");
      if ( c == 1 )  printf("soh ");
      if ( c == 2 )  printf("stx ");
      if ( c == 3 )  printf("etx ");
      if ( c == 4 )  printf("eot ");
      if ( c == 5 )  printf("enq ");
      if ( c == 6 )  printf("ack ");
      if ( c == 7 )  printf("bel ");
      if ( c == 8 )  printf("bs  ");
      if ( c == 9 )  printf("ht  ");
      if ( c == 10 )  printf("lf  ");
      if ( c == 11 )  printf("vt  ");
      if ( c == 12 )  printf("ff  ");
      if ( c == 13 )  printf("cr  ");
      if ( c == 14 )  printf("so  ");
      if ( c == 15 )  printf("si  ");
      if ( c == 16 )  printf("dle ");
      if ( c == 17 )  printf("dc1 ");
      if ( c == 18 )  printf("dc2 ");
      if ( c == 19 )  printf("dc3 ");
      if ( c == 20 )  printf("dc4 ");
      if ( c == 21 )  printf("nak ");
      if ( c == 22 )  printf("syn ");
      if ( c == 23 )  printf("etb ");
      if ( c == 24 )  printf("can ");
      if ( c == 25 )  printf("em  ");
      if ( c == 26 )  printf("sub ");
      if ( c == 27 )  printf("esc ");
      if ( c == 28 )  printf("fs  ");
      if ( c == 29 )  printf("gs  ");
      if ( c == 30 )  printf("rs  ");
      if ( c == 31 )  printf("us  ");
      if ( c == 32 )  printf("sp  ");
      if ( c >= 33 && c <=126)
      {
          putchar(c);
          printf("   ");
      }
      if ( c == 127 ) printf("del ");
      if ( c >= 128 )
      {
          putchar(c);
          printf("   ");
      }

      count++;
      if ( count > WIDTH ) {
         printf("\n");
         count = 0;
      }

   }
   fclose(fd);
}
```