Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!a544
From: Rick_McCormack@mindlink.UUCP (Rick McCormack)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps
Subject: Re: Importing text data into FoxBASE?
Message-ID: <5161@mindlink.UUCP>
Date: 14 Mar 91 13:31:04 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Lines: 45

In an article, Chris Shenton <chris@asylum.gsfc.nasa.gov> writes:

Chris: > I've got a text file of an old database which is basically a
Chris: > mailing list with entries like the following. I want to load
Chris: > it into records in Fox with fields as shown below:
Chris: > Chris: >         TEXT DATABASE                   DESIRED FOX FIELDS
Chris: > Chris: >         George Bush                     FirstName, LastName
Chris: >   [stuff deleted]
Chris: > Currently, the file is a MS-WORD doc saved as plain text.
Chris: > Lines are terminated by RETURN (I think) and a blank line
Chris: > separates records. I could probably massage this so that
Chris: > lines are separated by TABs, records by RETURNS -- would
Chris: > this help?
Chris: > Chris: > Any suggestions on how I can do this encoding? I don't want
Chris: > to have to type it in...

Chris, in MS Word, this is a three step process.  Use Command-Y to show your
hard returns and spaces, then:

Change all ocurrences (sp) of two returns (i.e. the "end of record" marker
shown by the blank line) into something like ")*(" or any other string that is
extremely unlikely to appear naturally in the database.  (Use the Command-H
"search and replace function and remember that ^p {shift-6 is the caret, and
the lowercase p} is MSW's return character in this dialog box.)

Now, change all single reurns to tabs (the tab is entered in the dialogue as ^t
{shift-6, lower case t}).

Now change all the ")*(" strings from step one into single returns.

IMPORTANT:  When I do these things, I ALWAYS do 2 important steps FIRST.  I
make a copy of the file and work with the copy.  And i often take about 1/3 of
the file, from the middle of the file, save it as a test bed file, and try the
conversion out on it first, then look at really closely for anomalies after the
conversion.

Luck
--
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