dos2unix using vi or vim – How to remove ^M chars from a DOS file

Often I need to translate source code from dos/windows format to UNIX format, MS-DOS and WINDOWS use a <carriage return>-<line feed> combination to represent end of line char while UNIX uses only a <line feed>.

To traslate from a format to the other you can use dos2unix command, if this command is not availble in your system you can use vi to traslate from Dos to Unix.

• Open the file with VI

# vi orig_file.txt

•  substitute the <carriage return>-<line feed> combination with only a line feed typing the following command:

:%s/^M//g
to compose the ^M character you need to press CTRL-V -> CTRL-M

•       Save the file with the following command

:w converted_file.txt

•       Exit from vi

:q
Have a good day!