Converting Windows file to Unix files

Thought I'd make a quick note about converting Windows files to Unix to remove the Carriage Returns from the file (which appear as ^M on the screen)

1. Use dos2unix to create a new file without the ^M and then move it back over the original
   $ dos2unix original_file.txt > original_file.txt.convert
   $ mv original_file.txt.convert original_file.txt
   
2. Use global search and replace in vi
   :%s/^M//g
   Note that the ^M above is done using CTRL-V CTRL-M
   ie :%s/{CTRL-V}{CTRL-M}//g
   

tar: ././@LongLink: typeflag 'L' not recognized, converting to regular file

Received the following error using tar on Solaris

tar: ././@LongLink: typeflag 'L' not recognized, converting to regular file

The solution is to use gtar instead of tar

/usr/sfw/bin/gtar

Copy using tar and ssh

Here is a good way to copy filesystems between servers using ssh and tar. It is a bit more reliable than scp especially in the area of symbolic links and permissions)

To copy all of the files and subdirectories in the current working directory to the directory /target, use:

tar cf - * | ( cd /target; tar xfp -)

To copy files to a remote server (ie sending the files)
cd /WHERE_THE_FILES_ARE

tar cf - FILES | ssh USER@TARGETHOST " cd /WHERE_YOU_WANT_THE_FILES; tar xvpf - "

To copy files from a remote server (ie receiving the files)
cd /WHERE_YOU_WANT_THE_FILES

ssh USER@TARGETHOST " cd /WHERE_THE_FILES_ARE; tar cf - FILES " | tar xvpf -

If you are copying large amounts of files and data you may wish to exclude the v flag (for verbose) in the tar command