This script fixes missing newlines in a Movable Type export file

fix_newlines.php

<?php

// -----------------------------
// When Movable Type (for example, version 4.32) exports posts, the files 
// have \n instead of <br> in the HTML bodies of posts and comments to 
// represent newlines. This confuses WordPress and corrupts the import process.
//
// This script replaces the double-newlines in post/comment bodies with <br><br> 
// so that a WordPress import can proceed correctly
//
// To use, run "php fix_newlines.php mt-export.txt > mt-export-newlines.txt" in your terminal
// -----------------------------

if(!isset($argv[1])) { die("Usage: ./fix_newlines.php [filename]\n"); }
if(!file_exists($argv[1])) { die("Could not open " . $argv[1] . "\n"); }

$handle = fopen($argv[1], 'r');
if ($handle == null) { die("Could not open " . $argv[1] . "\n"); }

$context = '';    
while ($line = fgets($handle)) {

    $line = trim($line);

    if ( '-----' == $line ) { // new sub-section
        $context = '';
    } else if ($line == '--------') { // new post section
        $context = '';
    } else if ($line == 'BODY:') {
        $context = 'body';
    } else if ($line == 'COMMENT:') {
        $context = 'comment';
    } else if ($context=="body" || $context=="comment") { 
        if(empty($line)) { $line = "<br><br>"; }
    } else {
    }

    echo $line . "\n";

}

?>