Writing fixed-length records to txt file

Anon

Im using PHP to take the data inputed by a user and storing it in a txt file in fixed length records... i take the input .. set it as a variable.... take that var-string and set its length using substr() and then set them all in an output var so I can fwrite() them to the text file... each record MUST be 723 chars long.... everything works the problem is the inloader im using is saying its invalid format but when I open the file and save it in MS-DOS editor (w/o editting anything), it inloads fine.... why does it only work when i open and save in MS-DOS editor .... very wierd

TIA!

fumagalli

Since many fixed length text files come with a CR LF pair at the end of records, maybe there are CR LF problems?

I.e. your ouput file has only LFs (ala Unix, output by PHP and incompatible with DOS/Windows loaders), MS-DOS editor opens it anyway (it's sort of smart!) and saves using CR + LF a la DOS.
To be more sure, open the file in Notepad and then in Wordpad.

If in Notepad the formatting at EOLs is screwed up and in Wordpad not (BTW Wordpad works the same as MS-DOS editor in putting CR+LF in LF only files...), then that is the problem.
To solve it fast, simply put a CR (0x0D) at the end of the rows.

Anon

Thanks for your reply...

I am putting "\n"... i assume this is just newline character and wouldnt help my problem is CR \r in PHP?

Thanks!