Why is there an FF FE at the beginning of .log files?

[BlackholeForever]

Hey all...

 

I was doing a FINDSTR on my ImgBurn .log files (no append, ImgBurn configured to write a new one whenever it is run) and noticed that it was not finding the search string I was looking for in any of the files specified.

 

Got the same thing in UltraEdit (text search in a set of files).

 

Looked at the log files in hex, and every one of them has an FF FE written at the beginning of each file... this seems to be what's throwing the search utilities, because they work fine if I delete these 2 bytes from the log files.

 

I'm just curious as to why that sequence is written to the logs...?

 

Thanks...

[LIGHTNING UK!]

It's a sequence used in unicode files to specify the byte order.

[BlackholeForever]

It's a sequence used in unicode files to specify the byte order.

 

Thanks, it looks like I spoke to soon. Deleting that byte order mark just messes up the whole encoding of those files. What I need to do is find a version or copycat FINDSTR utility that supports unicode...

 

p.s. - Looks like FIND supports unicode just not as full featured as FINDSTR.

Edited October 16, 2009 by BlackholeForever

[LIGHTNING UK!]

I always just use the find option in UltraEdit myself.