Table of Contents
IMPORT DELIMITED TEXT FILE
Category: Import / File
Description
This action loads data from one or multiple delimited text files.
The number of columns in the resulting dataset is defined by the first row of imported data.
Use cases
Use the Import from a delimited text file action when you have a plain text, structured, data file with fields that are separated by a delimiting character. In the case of a file having no embedded delimiters, all values are imported into a single field.
Action settings
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Load file* | Fully-qualified file name of the dataset (includes relative or absolute path). |
| Encoding | ASCII, ANSI (with code page), and other types of encoding. If you're not sure what to choose, try UTF-8 as it's the most common Unicode encoding. |
| Separator | The delimiter character that separates one value from another. For instance, for CSV files it should be a comma. A custom separator consisting of up to 8 characters can also be specified. If No separator is selected, all values are imported into a single field. |
| Decimal | When a text value looks like a number, EasyMorph converts it into a number. The decimal character specifies whether such numbers should have a comma or a dot as the decimal separator. |
| Thousand | When a text value looks like a number, EasyMorph converts it into a number. Select the separator used to define the thousands places within the value. Options: Default, Comma, Point or Space. |
| Skip first lines* | This option specifies how many lines to skip from the beginning of a file. It can be helpful in cases where first rows contain some metadata (file header) and actual tabular data starts only after that metadata. This setting can be specified using a parameter as well. |
| Columns don't have headers | Check this if data doesn't have column headers. |
* Setting can be specified using a parameter.
Advanced options
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Show parsing errors | Check this to add a column that contains parsing errors (if any) for each line. It can help detect rows that have too few values, or too many values. |
| Ignore quoting | By default, values wrapped in double quotes can contain the separator character and line breaks. Check this option if wrapping double quotes should be treated as regular characters. |
| Maximum number of lines to load* | Limits the number of rows loaded from the file. This setting is applied after Skip first lines. Use "0" to load all rows. |
* Setting can be specified using a parameter.
Remarks
Preview the raw and imported versions of the dataset using the Show preview button at the top of the action settings window.
This action can import multiple files. See Importing Multiple Files for more information.
Import 2 to 3 times faster (experimental feature). To enable this feature, check on the "Twice faster CSV import" option in Application Settings (in the About toolbar).
Examples
Input:
... Data to import --- 1|12|3.5|red|265 2|47|4.55|teal|354 3|4|8.1|burgundy|380
The input text has the following properties:
- pipe-delimited .txt
- starts with 3 rows of metadata
- has no header rows
Action parameters:
Separator is Pipe
Skip the 3 first lines
Columns don't have headers (checked)
Result table:
| 1 | 12 | 3.5 | red | 265 |
| 2 | 47 | 4.55 | teal | 354 |
| 3 | 4 | 8.1 | burgundy | 380 |
Community examples
- Suffix with comma between last name and suffix causing rows to shift (Project; Module: Main; Group: Tab 1; Table: data.csv;
Action position: 1) - Read Data with two line header (Project; Module: Main; Group: Tab 1; Table: Read, Mark groups; Action position: 1)
- .txt to .csv - Multiple Line & Character Length HELP! (Project; Module: Main; Group: Group 1; Table: SAMPLE.txt; Action position: 1)
- Download multiple files from HTTPS and copy to folder, preserving file names (Project; Module: Main; Group: Tab 1; Table: Table 1; Action position: 2)
Shortcuts
Fast ways to create the action:
- Press the "Add data" menu button. Pick "Import file" or "Import multiple files".
- Drag a text file into the application window. Supported file extensions: csv, psv, tsv.
- Drag a folder with text files into the application window.