Format String
Specify the data types of the imported columns. For each column you need to specify a % sign and then the data type. Dates may automatically be imported as numbers. After importing, you can change the column format type to a dates format. One of the delimiters specified in the Delimiters field must separate each specification in the string. Here is an example ASCII format string:
%s, %f, %*, %f
The "s" denotes a string data type, "f" denotes a float data type, and the asterisk (*) denotes a skipped column.
If you do not specify the data type of each column, S-PLUS looks at the Start Row and uses the contents of this row to determine the data type of each column. A row of data must always end with a new line. Note that field width specifications are irrelevant for ASCII files and are ignored.
Note that field width specifications are irrelevant for ASCII files and are ignored.
Multiple delimiter characters are not grouped and treated the same as a single delimiter. For example, if the comma is a delimiter, two commas are interpreted as a missing field.
Double quotes (") are treated specially. They are always treated as an "enclosure" marker, and must always come in pairs. Any data contained between double quotes are read as a single unit of character data. Thus, spaces and commas can be used as delimiters, and spaces and commas can still be used within a character field as long as that field is enclosed within double quotes. Double quotes cannot be used as standard delimiters.
If a variable is specified to be numeric, and if the value of any cell cannot be interpreted as a number, that cell is filled in with a missing value. Incomplete rows are also filled in with missing values.