User Guide

Data Files

What is the text qualifier? Characters used to enclose values that contain delimiter

characters. For example, if a comma is the delimiter, values that contain commas

will be read

incorrectly unless there is a text qualifier enclosing the value, preventing

the commas in the value from being interpreted as delimiters between values.

CSV-format data files exported from Excel use a double quotation mark (“) as a text

qualifier

. The text qualifier appears at both the beginning and the end of the value,

enclosing the entire value.

Text Wizar

d Step 4: Fixed-Width Files

Figure 3-20

Text Wizard Step 4 for fixed-width files

This step displays the Text Wizard’s best guess on how to read the data file and

allows you to modify how the Text Wizard will read variables from the data file.

Vertical lines in the preview window indicate where the Text Wizard currently thinks

each variable begins in the file.