viascii - a tool to edit ascii files with the 'vi' editor

usage:  > viascii <ascii file>

required programs:  vi, iconv

description:  

viascii is a simple shell script that uses 'vi' to edit one ascii file at a 
time.  

by ascii, the code page ISO8859-1 is referred to.  the script makes a 
temporary copy of the ascii file in the /tmp directory.  this copy is
created using the 'iconv' program to convert it to ebcdic, or code page
IBM-1047.  'vi' is then used to edit the temporary file.

once 'vi' is finished, the temporary file is checked for updates.  if
it is newer, 'iconv' is used to overwrite the original with the new
file in ascii again.


limitations:

does not support the use of multiple files at one time,
does not support any of vi's command line parameters.
user must have write permission to the file being edited.
user must have write permission to the directory that the file is in.
user must have write permission to the /tmp directory.


written by:

jason m. heim
heim@us.ibm.com