NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #18/NN_1992_18.iso/spool/comp/database/6133

Internet Message Format | 1992-08-14 | 1.5 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!mcsun!uknet!ox-prg!oxuniv!hsr4
From: [e-mail]
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Import ASCII to DBase III
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 14 Aug 92 15:12:51 GMT
References: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620
Lines: 36

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Tom Gowdyk) writes:
> Can someone tell me how to import an ASCII file into DBase 3.  The manuals are
> not clear on how or even if I can do this.

It depends on the organisation of your ASCII data.

If your data looks like this:

1234433221KING123GREEN2233.54456

then you can define your fields appropriately, and APPEND FROM <ascii-filename>
SDF.

If your data looks like this:

123 44 332 21 KING 123 GREEN 2233.54 456

then you can define your fields as before (i.e. don't include the blanks) and
APPEND FROM <ascii-filename> DELIMITED WITH BLANK.

You can also try defining your fields as before but insert between each defined
field a character field (called, say, S0, S1, S2, S3, S4, S5) of type CHARACTER
and length 1.  Sometimes I've found this to be a more reliable way of bringing
data on board than using the DELIMITED WITH BLANKS, especially when the number
of delimiting blanks varies! :-).  Once APPENDED ...SDF, the structure can be
modified to drop the S0, S1, ... et al.             ^^^

If your data looks like this:

123,44,332,21,KING,123,GREEN,2233.54,456

then define your fields, etc., and APPEND FROM <ascii-filename> DELIMITED.

Hope this helps,

Peter Brooks