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I need to look at some logs (FIX protocol messages from QuickFIX), which use the SOH character as a separator between fields.

I'm connecting to a CentOS server using PuTTY over SSH.

While I can log the session and then search-and-replace the SOH character with '||' (or something similar), I was wondering if there was a way to do it "live", via terminal settings.

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  • I have the same problem with QuickFIX! I'd also like to view the SOH character in the Linux terminal. Please let me know if you can do this.
    – Felipe Windmoller
    Dec 26, 2020 at 17:00

1 Answer 1

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I do not know exactly what you mean by

to do it via terminal settings.

For instance, you can easily visualize SOH by substituting it with this sequence of operations, 

   cat -v file | sed 's/\^A/\t/g' | less

From the manual entry for cat:

-v, --show-nonprinting use ^ and M- notation, except for LFD and TAB

Now Start Of Heading (SOH) has been transformed into ^+A, and the Stream Editor sed replaces it with a Tab (change this as you see fit.

Or, when editing the file with vim, you can display non-printable characters by hitting Esc to enter command mode, then hit

 :set list

and then 

 :set nolist

to return to the previous situation.

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  • Hi. Thanks for the answer! I did come across solutions based on cat and sed elsewhere. I wonder if it's possible to make the terminal do the substitutions or just display the control character as ^A. The reason is that I'm viewing these logs online while the process is running. They're not in a file.
    – Plumenator
    Oct 20, 2015 at 15:27
  • @Plumenator No, there is not a console-setting, if this what you mean. There may be an application setting, like I said.
    – MariusMatutiae
    Oct 20, 2015 at 15:35

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