Good field separation character?

I am looking for a good field separator character for rows that have string data.

I am reading a series of values from a given row and putting them into a UNIX text file. I then manipulate the text file using 'awk' and end up producing Oracle "update" commands.

The problem is whatever standard printable character I use as a field separator usually shows up a part of a string either intentionally or as a typo.

I've tried the tilde, back quote, carat, etc. It seems like if it can be entered incorrectly it will be.

I was wondering if anyone had any luck with non-printable characters or maybe some "international" characters as the separators in flat files?

Pete Stryjewski
pstryjew_at_worldnet.att.net Received on Tue Jun 08 1999 - 01:11:57 CDT