Q: If file contains '\n', should the '\n' be included in the frequecies? A: Yes. '\n' is a valid character. Files contain bytes. Any byte should be included. Q: How can I see the contents of the file more directly? A: $ xxd input.txt Q: What is the 0a at the end of my input file? A: 0a is the hex representation of 10, which is the ASCII value for '\n'. Q: How can I make a text file without the editor adding a '\n' to the end of the last line? A: $ echo -n "huffman fluffs many mums" > input.txt echo Just prints whatever you pass to it, usually followed by a '\n'. -n tells echo not to add the '\n'. α > β tells bash to redirect the output of the command α to the file on the right β. Q: Why didn't `vim -b input.txt` work in lecture? A: I don't know!!! The -b means binary mode. The main difference for our purposes is that it doesn't add a '\n' to the end of the last line when you save. It probably only applies to existing files. I'm not sure.