tr
single-byte, no unicode! rot-13 "encryption" tr 'a-z' 'n-za-m' strip other than TAB, LF, CR and printable chars tr -cd '\11\12\15\40-\176' < file-with-binary-chars > clean-file replace commas with new lines tr , \\n strip repetitive white space tr -s ' \t' or new lines tr -s \\n |