Re: complex text file manipulation

From: Kenny McCormack (gazelle_at_yin.interaccess.com)
Date: 07/31/05 

Date: Sun, 31 Jul 2005 15:03:26 GMT

In article <1tnfe151o173ivpppa1kggtn02fbts72np@4ax.com>,
 <G_r_a_n_t_@dodo.com.au> wrote:
>On 27 Jul 2005 10:32:20 -0700, oraustin@hotmail.com wrote:
>
>> I've got a real puzzler here (well for me at least) - it's accounting
>> data that's provided as a text file with fixed with fields -
>
>Fixed fields are easy: 'cut -c??' the fields, then write them to
>quoted csv format (for windows apps) or <tab> delimited data for
>unix apps and basic database operations on flat text files.

Tab delimited is, in fact, best in the Windoze world as well.
It is the "native" format of Excel (if you don't understand this last,
don't bother writing in).