"WilliamJ. Patton, Jr." wrote:
> From: William Patton
> Subject: Comma, tab, space delimited
> Hello, I am trying to export a data base. Could someone please explain
> comma, tab, and space delimited and the pros and cons of each. Thank You
>
William:
The term "Delimiter" refers to any code combination or character used to
separate the data elements(sometimes called fields) that appear as columns in
a database or spreadsheet. You have listed 3 of the more commonly used
delimiters. These all have strengths and weaknesses some of which are
related to the use of the exported data.
TYPE Comments
* comma delimited Numeric fields are separated by commas and usually
alphabetic fields are separated by a
"," combination. The disadvantage is
sometimes the occurance of real comma's in the data stream can
be misinterpreted as to be the delimiter. If
this happens it can really mess up your use of the data.
* tab delimited I prefer this to the comma delimiter, but it does
still have the same problem, if it is possible for
a tab to exist in the data base (In 99% of
data bases it cannot be there, but nothing is absolute)
* space delimited Ouch!!! I would never use this myself. It is too easy
to get a space in a data base somewhere
you don't expect it. If you do then all of
your exported data beyond that point will be messed up.
When I refered to the use of the exported data I am assuming that you intend
to "Import" that data into another application. If so, which delimiters both
applications understand is more important than which is best. If you can
specify what delimiter to use beside the 3 you have listed you might see if
the tilde (~) won't work well. It is very very seldom seen in real data. (I
don't know what it is for, and I'll bet there isn't 1 person in 100000 that
has any idea what that squiggly line is for.)
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