i said:
>   a web-browser won't wrap the lines on a .txt file, so
>   if the hard-returns were removed from p.g. .txt files,
>   the lines would run off the screen of a web-browser.

i'm sorry.  i was wrong.  safari (at least) does wrap the lines.

i'm not sure where i got that idea...

at any rate, my apologies for the misinformation.

-bowerbird