newbie Q: delete list few lines in file

[Peter Hansen]

Jonathan Hogg wrote:
> 
> I think that it is unclear from Xah's original post whether the files or the
> lines are to be deleted. Certainly, asking how to write to files in place
> suggests that the lines are to be deleted.

I didn't catch that part.  Apparently neither did anyone else who was
interested in helping, rather than criticizing...

I just ask things that come to mind to try to clarify the vague
questions we get.  If I slip up sometimes in my reply, well, that's
to be expected.  At least I'm trying to ferret out a useful answer.

> > -trying-not-to-complicate-things-ly yr's,
> 
> If you want to say "that's complicated, are you sure you want to do that?",
> go ahead. But it's not helpful to tell someone that something cannot be done
> when it can. That's just misdirection.

This time I was wrong.  Nevertheless, the answer I should have got 
was "no, you misunderstood, I want to delete the lines, not the files", 
in which case I or someone else would have said, "oh, for *that* you 
can just truncate the file".

-all-the-world's-a-critic-ly yr's,
 Peter