#!/usr/its/bin/perl
# Strip.pl
# Written by Andy Ehlert
# This perl utility removes the spaces between words
# in a text file.  It can accept arguments from the
# command line, or from within the program itself.
# Simply type strip.pl <file name>, or just strip.pl.
# It will write to a file called <file name>.stp.
#
#
#
# This allows the program to be run from the command line.
# indictated will be stripped of all spaces.
# Simply type strip.pl <file name>, and the file will be
# striped of spaces between words.

if ($ARGV[0]){
  $file_name= $ARGV[0]
}

# Otherwise, the program will prompt the user for the name
# of the file that they wish to be manipulated.

else
{
  print "Enter the name of the file to strip of spaces: ";
  $file_name = <STDIN>;
  chomp($file_name);
}

# This code removes extentions beyond a period and replaces
# it with a .stp, ie.  test.txt would become test.stp.  This 
# is to reflect that the new file is different than the file 
# that was entered.

open (IN, $file_name) || die "Can't open file for input!"; 
 $_ = $file_name;

# This checks to see if there is a period in the name of the file.
# If there is, it replaces everything after the period with the 
# extention .stp.  Otherwise it just adds the .stp to the end of 
# the file indicated.

if(s/\..*/\.stp/)
{
  $file_name = $_;
  open(OUT, "> $file_name");
}
else
{
  open(OUT, "> $file_name.stp");
}

# This while loop proceeds through the file until the end of
# file is detected.  For each line that it finds in the file 
# the program strips out all spaces, and writes the changed
# line to the new file.

while(<IN>)
{
  chomp;
  s/ //g;
  print OUT "$_\n";
}