Chaos 1.0 build: 9639 released: 2013-02-16 compiled with: Java 1.8.0_131 Jet jet12.0-pro-x86/1.8.0_131

Calculates text file stats such as average line length, deviation from average, max line length, file size..

Java application.
Download from: http://mindprod.com/products1.html#CHAOS

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Notes:

You must install the Java JRE to use this program.
See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/jgloss/jre.html

This program can only be used from the command prompt, (or via an command
line style icon shortcut) e.g. under Windows command.exe or JPSoft
tcmd.exe, formerly called the DOS box. Just clicking the programs in a
directory listing will not do anything useful. Just typing the program
names at the command prompt will not either.

This program requires a manual install! See below.

This program works with vanilla text files, (e.g. ASCII files or UTF-8
Unicode files). You will need a text editor to create and view them, not a word
processor. e.g. notepad, Visual Slick Edit or other suitable text editor
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/editor.html. You must use a monospaced font
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/monospacedfonts.html (aka fixed pitch, aka
programmer font) to view your files, or they won't look properly aligned.

I put out an avalanche of free software into the world, and submit PAD
files to hundreds of distribution sites, but I rarely hear back from
anyone. What's happening? Does it all just work fine? It is so
complicated nobody can figure out how to use it and they give up on it?
It is it useful? Since everyone has the source, do people just fix the
programs to their liking themselves? Did you have trouble installing? Do
I presume you know too much? I would be happy to hear from you about your
experiences, positive or negative and your requests for improvements. A
one-line email to roedy@mindprod.com would be great.

===> Free <===
Full source included.
You may even include the source code, modified or unmodified
in free/commercial open source/proprietary programs that you write and distribute.
May be used freely for any purpose but military.
For more details on this restriction, see
http://mindprod.com/contact/nonmil.html
If you include any Canadian Mind Products code in your own applications,
your app too must be labelled non-military use only.
http://mindprod.com/contact/nonmil.html
All Java jars and source code are included. If you need the class files or Javadoc, you will have to build them yourself. To streamline the zip downloads, class files and Javadoc have been removed.

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Prerequisites:

This program runs under any OS that supports Java,
(e.g.W2K/XP/W2003/Vista/W2008/W7-32/W7-64/W8-32/W8-64/Linux/LinuxARM/LinuxX86
/LinuxX64/Ubuntu/Solaris/SolarisSPARC/SolarisSPARC64/SolarisX86/SolarisX64/OSX/AIX...)
so long as you have
<><> Java version 1.8 <><> or later installed (32-bit or 64-bit Java).
See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/installingjava.html for details.

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Installing on a PC:

Download source and compiled jar files to run on your own machine as an application.
First install a recent Java JDK or JVM.
See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/installingjava.html.
To install, extract the zip download with WinZip
(or similar unzip utility) into any directory you please,
often J:\ -- ticking off the <span class="click">use folder names</span> option.
To run as an application, type:
java.exe %JAVA_OPTIONS -ea -jar J:\com\mindprod\chaos\chaos.jar {put any parms here}

adjusting as necessary to account for where the jar file is.

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Installing on a MacIntosh:

Use Safari to download source and compiled jar files to run on your own machine as an application.
Safari will automatically unpack the zip into ~/Downloads (version 10.5)
[or on the Desktop (version 10.4 and earlier)].
First install a recent Java JDK or JVM.
See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/installingjava.html.
You may optionally move the download tree to a permanent home.
I don't have a MacIntosh, just a PC, so I can't test my Java programs for Mac compatibility.
In theory they should work without problems, but in practice that does not always happen.
If you have problems please, let me know, preferably with screenshots and complete verbatim error messages.
To run as an application, without parameters, just double click the jar file.

To run as an application with parameters, in bash shell type:
open Terminal.app
cd ~/Desktop
java.exe -ea -jar com/mindprod/chaos/chaos.jar {put any parms here}

adjusting as necessary to account for where the jar file is.

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Rebuilding:

The zip already contains the necessary jar files, so unless you modify
the program, there is no need to recompile the source or rebuild the jar.
Configure.java basedir="E:/" in rebuild.xml to the drive where your files are.
Use ANT and rebuild.xml, not build.xml, to recompile and recreate the jar.

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Use:

Measures the "chaos" of each of a set of files. It tells you
1. the average line length.
2. the average deviation from the average line length.
3. the maximum line length.
4. total lines in file.
5. totaL words in file.
6. total characters in file.
You might use it to decide which text files need to be tidied to have
consistent line lengths, or which are so big they should be split.
It works only on *.html *.htm *.txt *.bat and *.btm files. It words on
Windows CrLf or Unix Lf format text files. It presumes the default
encoding, though it will work reasonably well with most other encodings.
To test a single file, type:
java.exe -jar C:\com\mindprod\chaos\chaos.jar myfile.html
You can also list several files on the command line:
java.exe -jar C:\com\mindprod\chaos\chaos.jar myfile.html C:\mydir\another.html
To process the entire current directory of HTML files:
java.exe -jar C:\com\mindprod\chaos\chaos.jar .
Sorry no wildcards, just . , and ..
DON'T USE WILDCARDS unless you deeply understand how they work. See
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/wildcard.html. Windows expands them, not
amper, and feeds them to amper (or any other program) as a giant list of
all the directories and files in the current directory. Amper will thus
tend process all the files in your directories, when you just meant to
process the files in the current directory.
The -s switch makes all subsequent directories searched recursively to
include all their subdirectories.
e.g.
java.exe -jar C:\com\mindprod\chaos\chaos.jar -s E:\mindprod
will process all *.html files in the mindprod directory tree, ignoring
nonm-text files.
If you have the jar extension set up as executable, you can abbreviate:
C:\com\mindprod\chaos\chaos.jar .
Why the lines icon? It represents a chaotic file with wildly varying line
lengths that you might want to tidy or split.

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Version History:

1.0 2013-02-16 initial version

-30-