~(pts)$ echo -ne "Hi\tThere\n" > dummy
~(pts)$ cat dummy 
Hi      There
~(pts)$ vi dummy
:set list
1 Hi^IThere$
:x
~(pts)$ perl -e 'open(FILE,"dummy"); print "A\tTab\n"; print <FILE>;'
A       Tab
Hi      There
~(pts)$ 

##</code><code>##

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  jason@gost.net, wh@ckz.org
    http://jason.gost.net
/*****************************/