






                STRIPIT File Preparation Program


     Tired  of spending hours reformatting large files  that  you 
have  downloaded from an online information service  like  Compu-
Serve,  ABA/net  or Prodigy?  Feeling guilty  about  making  your 
secretary  spend  her lunch hour and then  some  stripping  extra 
carriage returns from file that you extracted from your nifty new 
CD  ROM  drive?  Similar frustrations drove me into  coding  this 
small utility.

     STRIPIT  will quickly transform a standard ASCII  file  into 
one  suitable for use with most word-processors by  removing  any 
carriage  returns that are followed by a character other  than  a 
space  or another carriage.  This means that if your file  has  a 
blank line seperating paragraphs or if the paragraphs start  with 
an indent, you're in luck.

     Conversely, if the file is set up so that every line  starts 
off  with a series of blank spaces on every line, like the  docu-
mentation  for  many shareware programs, you  must  first  delete 
these leading spaces before filtering your program through  STRI-
PIT.

                          Using STRIPIT

     STRIPT may be used interactively or operated solely from the
command line.  To operate the program interactively, please enter
STRIPIT on the DOS command line followed by the ENTER or RETURN key.
You will then be prompted for the file you wish to strip and the name
of the file you wish to receive the information created by STRIPIT.
You may include the full drive\pathname of either STRIPIT or the
file you wish  to  strip  if they are not in the  current  directory.

     If you wish to operate the program from the command line, please
use the following syntax:
        [drive][path]STRIPIT [drive1][path1]SOURCE [drive2][path2]DESTINATION
where items in brackets are optional.  SOURCE is the name of the file
you wish to strip while destination is where the information will end
up.
IMPORTANT NOTE:  When specifying both source and destination file on
the command line, if the destination file exists, it will be overwritten!





                         

                         Formatting tips

     The  easiest way to prepare your stripped file for use in  a 
word-processing  program is to start the application program  and
open  your  stripped file.  Once the file is open it  is  a  much
simpler matter to reformat the file.

                         WordStar Users
     This program was originally designed to convert ASCII  files 
pulled  off a CD ROM drive into a format better suited  to  Word-
Star.
     Once  you  have  opened the file  in  document  mode,  press 
^Q^Q^B.   This  will reformat the file one paragraph  at  a  time 
until it reaches the end of the file.
     If  the file has a series of spaces before each  line,  just 
open the file in non-document mode and turn on column mode.  Mark 
off  the  block that you want to remove and delete it  with  ^KY.  
Your file is now ready for STRIPIT.

                          Registration 

     STRIPIT  is  being released as shareware to enable  a  wider 
audience to become exposed to it's benefits than would be posssi-
ble  using more traditional channels of distribution.   The  idea 
behind shareware is simple: if you like what you see, pay for it, 
if  you don't, just don't use it.  Feel free to pass around  this 
evaluation  copy  of to friends, co-workers  and  other  computer 
users on the following conditions:

          1) Documentation file must be included with program.
          2) No amount may be charged for STRIPIT other than.
               a reasonable copy fee not to exceed $5.00.
          3) If you have a REGISTERED copy, it may not be 
               distributed.

     If  you like the program and would like to encourage  me  to 
code other utilities like STRIPIT, please register your copy.  If 
you  are  tired of looking at the guilt screen after  program  is 
run, please register your copy.  If you would like any  technical 
support,  please register your copy.  If you would like  to  have 
STRIPIT personalized just for you, please register your copy.  If 
you  would  like the C language source code  to  STRIPIT,  please 
register your copy.  If you would like to earn the undying appre-
ciation  of my son and wife, please register your copy.   If  you 
would  like to keep a good Karma, please register your copy.   If 
you're  sick of reading all this drivel, register your  copy  and 
beat the rush.


