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Q74883: FIX: ^Z in Input File Appears to Truncate Listing File

Article: Q74883
Product(s): Microsoft Macro Assembler
Version(s): MS-DOS:6.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): 
Last Modified: 04-MAY-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Macro Assembler (MASM), version 6.0 
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SYMPTOMS
========

If one of the source files assembled by the Microsoft Macro Assembler (MASM)
version 6.0 contains a CTRL+Z character, the listing file generated by the
assembler may appear to be truncated immediately following the position of that
source file in the listing.

CAUSE
=====

The CTRL+Z character is considered to be the end-of-file (EOF) character for
text files in DOS and OS/2. Many editors support this and use the CTRL+Z as a
file termination character. Unfortunately, when MASM 6.0 adds files to the
listing file, it reads the entire file including the CTRL+Z at the end, if there
is one, and places it in the listing. If you use the DOS or OS/2 operating
system commands, such as Type or Copy, to display the resultant file, it will
seem to end at the first occurrence of a CTRL+Z (EOF) character.

RESOLUTION
==========

If your editor supports saving a file without a CTRL+Z as the termination
character, this is the easiest way to work around this problem. If there is no
CTRL+Z in the source file, it cannot be transferred to the list file.

If you cannot eliminate the CTRL+Z characters, you can load the list file into
the Programmer's WorkBench (PWB) and remove the CTRL+Z character(s) from the
file. Because PWB does not rely on CTRL+Z characters for EOFs, the CTRL+Z
characters will be displayed as right arrow characters (->). You can delete
these characters just as you can delete any other character. After removing the
CTRL+Z characters, the DOS or OS/2 commands will operate on the listing file as
expected.

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in MASM version 6.0. This problem
was corrected in MASM version 6.0a.

Additional query words: 6.00 buglist6.00 fixlist6.00a

======================================================================
Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbMASMsearch kbAudDeveloper kbMASM600
Version           : MS-DOS:6.0
Solution Type     : kbfix

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