textpack.txt

Textpack Documentation
======================
 
  
NAME
====

textpack - Pack and unpack Flex files containing text 
  

SYNOPSIS
========

textpack -c FLEXFILE [TEXTFILE] 
textpack -x FLEXFILE [TEXTFILE] 
  

DESCRIPTION
===========

Text Flex files are used for the storage of strings by the games Exult supports. 
While expack(1) can operate on such files, using textpack to pack and unpack 
them is more comfortable. 
The first parameter determines the mode of operation, -c stands for creation, -x 
for extraction. 
  

Creation
========

TEXTFILE (or stdin if it is missing) is read and must conform to the file format 
(see below). FLEXFILE will be created containing the strings from this input. 
  
Extraction
The strings contained in FLEXFILE are extracted and written to TEXTFILE (if 
given, stdout otherwise) in the file format documented below. 
  
File Format
Empty lines, and lines starting with a pound sign (#) are ignored. Other lines 
must begin with a number, followed by a colon (:). The number is the index of 
the string and may be given either in decimal, in octal prefixed with 0; or in 
hexadecimal prefixed with 0x. Anything following the colon belongs to the string 
and gets stored in the Flex verbatim. Lines are limited in length to 1024 
characters. 
  

EXAMPLES
========

  textpack -x text.flx 
  Writes all the strings contained in text.flx to stdout in the format discussed 
  above.
 
  textpack -c text.flx strings.list 
  Reads strings.list and puts its contents into the Flex file text.flx 
  
Example text file:
# An example 
0:the zeroth string 
# strings may be empty 
1: 
# holes are allowed, strings 2 to 16 will be empty 
17:string seventeen 
# 13 hexadecimal == 19 decimal, 24 octal == 20 decimal 
0x13:nineteen 
024:twenty 
# numbers need not go up 
18:eighteen 
# this will overwrite the definition from above 
19:overwritten 
  

AUTHOR
======

This manpage was written by Robert Bihlmeyer. It may be freely redistributed and 
modified under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 or higher.