Re: ASCII or BINARY ??

Hi Jay,
Basically it works like this:-
Anything that is basically text only (ie can be loaded into a simple text
editor) should be uploaded as ascii. examples are text files,html scripts,
perl scripts etc all these files can be loaded into a simple text editor and
read.

Anything else ie a file containing more than just readable text needs to be
uploaded as binary for example:-
image files like  "file.jpg" or "file.gif".  exectutable files like
"file.exe" and I thing word processor documents ie "file.doc" as these have
embedded format information.

Most ftp programs default to binary but allow you to make a list of file
extensions which you want loaded as ascii. In here you would include things
like this:-

.txt
.htm
.html
.cgi
.pl

as a minimum and add to this any specifics in your case then you can largly
leave it to the ftp program to automatically sort out.

Regards
Peter Newton


> Hi,
>
> I use an FTP product that is always asking me if I want to upload (to
> my ISP for use on our web site) my files in ASCII (plain text) or
> BINARY format.
>
> Right or wrong, I have always used BINARY because once upon a time
> someone told me that is what I wanted to do.  Everything has been
> working just fine.
>
> Recently, however, I read a magazine snippet in which the author
> indicated that something (I don't remember what) must be uploaded in
> ASCII format.
>
> When should one use which one???
>
> Thanks!
>
> --
> Jay Smith
>
> e-mail: Jay(at)JaySmith.com  mailto:Jay(at)JaySmith.com
> website: http://www.JaySmith.com
>
> Jay Smith & Associates
> P.O. Box 650
> Snow Camp, NC  27349  USA
>
> Phone: Int+US+336-376-9991
> Toll-Free Phone in US & Canada:
> 1-800-447-8267
> Fax: Int+US+336-376-6750
>

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