Details on Import Settings – Advanced

Option

Description

Comment row beginning

Allows you to ignore all rows beginning with a specific character sequence. For example, if "#" is used as in the example above, all rows beginning with # will be set as Comment rows and will be ignored during import.

Set number of columns

Allows you to specify a fixed number of columns to import. This could be smaller or greater than the number of columns available in the beginning of the text file. For example, in a data table where 50 columns are present for the first 100 rows and 60 columns for the following rows, it could be useful to set this option to 60 and, hence, import all available data.

Minimum number of columns allowed

Ignores rows where the number of available values is less than the specified number. If the data table contains comments or texts in the middle of the data, this option can be set to, for example, 5, and only rows with values in at least five columns will be imported.

Interpret as null (missing value)

Allows you to specify a string that should be interpreted as null (a missing data value).

Start reading data from row

Allows you to leave out a specified number of rows. For example, if your data contains a header of ten rows which should be ignored during import, this option should be set to 11.

Name for columns with no name rows

Specifies the default naming of columns for data tables without any specified name rows. The suffix "{0}" will automatically be added if you do not type it yourself and it means that all columns will receive a number after the specified name. For example, "Column {0}" will result in the columns "Column 1", "Column 2", "Column 3", etc.

Concatenate multiple name rows

Specifies how multiple name rows will be concatenated. For example, the default value for three name rows, "{0}, {1}, {2}", will separate the name parts of the different name rows with a comma and a space. If the commas are removed, "{0} {1} {2}", only a space will separate the name parts.

Replace missing name fields

Allows you to replace a missing name (or a part of a name if multiple name rows are used) by one of the following methods:

None - leaves a name part blank. If no other name rows contribute to the name, the "Name for columns with no name rows" specified above will be used for that particular column.

From left - takes the name or name part from the column on the left and uses it as a name or name part.

By string - replaces missing names or name parts with the specified string.

Has quote character

Specifies whether or not the data table contains quote characters.

Quote character

Specifies the quote character.

Quote escape

Specifies how quote characters should be escaped.

Allow newline characters in quoted fields

Specifies whether or not newline characters will be allowed within a quoted field.

Default

Returns all settings in the Import Settings – Advanced dialog to the default values.