-a This option is deprecated. Do not use it unless you know what you're doing. By default, Tofrodos
does the expected thing for text files. That is, when converting from DOS to Unix, it will remove
carriage returns only if they are followed by line feeds. When converting from Unix to DOS, it
will add carriage returns only if the linefeeds are not already preceeded by carriage returns.
When Tofrodos is run on a normal text file that has already been converted, the resulting file
should be identical to the original. However, if you use this option, the program will always
remove carriage returns in the DOS to Unix mode and always add carriage returns in the Unix to DOS
mode even if it is not appropriate.
-b Make a backup of original file. The original file with a .bak extension appended to the original
filename, silently replacing any existing file of that name. For example, a file called
"filename.ext" becomes "filename.ext.bak" replacing any existing file having the name
"filename.ext.bak". Important: the program behaves differently if it is compiled for DOS (as
compared to being compiled for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X or other systems). In view of the filename
restrictions present on DOS, the DOS executable will strip the original file extension, if any,
from the file before appending the .bak extension. For example, "filename.ext" becomes
"filename.bak".
-d Convert from DOS to Unix. This forces the program to convert the file in a particular direction.
By default, if the program is named fromdos or dos2unix, it will assume that the input file is in
a DOS format and convert it to a Unix format. If the program is named todos or unix2dos, it will
assume that the input file is in a Unix format and convert it to a DOS format. Using the -d option
forces the program to convert from a DOS format to a Unix format regardless of how the program is
named. Likewise, using the -u option forces the program to convert from a Unix format to a DOS
format regardless of the name of the program.
-e Abort processing on any error in any file. Normally, the program will simply skip to process the
next file on the command line when it encounters any errors. This option causes it to abort on
errors.
-f Force: convert even if the file is not writeable (read-only). By default, if the program finds
that the file does not have write permission, it will not process that file. This option forces
the conversion even if the file is read-only.
-h Display a short help screen on the program usage and quit.
-l<logfile>
Log error messages to <logfile>. Note that if your command line has an error, such as when you
specify an unknown option, the error message for the command line option error will be issued to
stderr instead and not logged.
-o Overwrite the original file (no backup). This is the default.
-p Preserve file ownership and time on Unix-type systems (like Linux). On Windows and MSDOS, it only
preserves the file time. Note that on many Unix-type systems, including Linux, the file ownership
will only be preserved if the program is run as root, otherwise it will just set the file time and
silently fail the change of file ownership. On such systems, if you want a warning message when
the file ownership cannot be changed, use -v (the verbose flag) as well.
-u Convert from Unix to DOS. See the -d option above for more information.
-v Verbose.
-V Show version message and quit.