RE: st: RE: why messy when importing a csv file?

["Nick Cox" <n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk>]

We have now two stories about what happens when you type -insheet using
firms.csv-, the one here and that sent 15 minutes earlier at 

<http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/lwgate/STATALIST/archives/statalist
.1005/date/article-297.html> 

So, are you saying that your results are not even consistent?
 
Nick 
n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk 

Jessie Grace

Nick, thank you for reply.
Additionally, the csv file is downloaded from a certain database. If I
copy the contents of the file to Stata's editor window. Everything goes
well.
 
. list
     +-------------------------------+
     | stkcd       accper   a00110~0 |
     |-------------------------------|
  1. |     2   1999-06-30   4.68e+08 |
  2. |     2   2002-09-30   1.17e+09 |
  3. |     2   2000-01-01   7.73e+08 |
  4. |     2   2000-06-30   9.12e+08 |
  5. |     2   2000-12-31   9.96e+08 |
     |-------------------------------|
  6. |     2   2009-03-31   2.69e+10 |
  7. |     2   1997-06-30          0 |
  8. |     2   1991-12-31   8.86e+07 |
  9. |     2   1992-12-31   2.05e+08 |
 10. |     3   1998-12-31   1.21e+08 |
     +-------------------------------+

If I copy the contents to a new csv file and type "insheet using
firms.csv", the results are as follows.

. list
     +-------------------------+
     |                      v1 |
     |-------------------------|
  1. | Stkcd,Accper,A001101000 |
  2. |           ,468010960.13 |
  3. |          ,1166858479.70 |
  4. |           ,772831829.15 |
  5. |           ,911966043.54 |
     |-------------------------|
  6. |           ,995745160.05 |
  7. |         ,26921921879.80 |
  8. |                      ,0 |
  9. |            ,88628783.34 |
 10. |           ,204653478.04 |
     |-------------------------|
 11. |           ,120946052.36 |
     +-------------------------+

I think the points are "the contents of each row are in the same cell"
and the double quotes of the second variable in my csv file.
 
> From: n.j.cox@durham.ac.uk

> No definition of "messy" here.
>
> My guess: By default your third variable will be -float- type and will
> be assigned a format %8.0g. That wouldn't look exactly like the
original
> without resetting the format.
>
> Otherwise put: without specifying more information, you are in effect
> _asking_ for Stata's default treatment in terms of storage types and
> formats. So, the results shouldn't seem surprising.

Jessie Grace

> I have a .csv file, which consists of the following.
>
> Stkcd,Accper,A001101000
> 000002,"1999-06-30",468010960.13
> 000002,"2002-09-30",1166858479.70
> 000002,"2000-01-01",772831829.15
> 000002,"2000-06-30",911966043.54
> 000002,"2000-12-31",995745160.05
> 000002,"2009-03-31",26921921879.80
> 000002,"1997-06-30",0
> 000002,"1991-12-31",88628783.34
> 000002,"1992-12-31",204653478.04
> 000003,"1998-12-31",120946052.36
>
> The first row contains variables names. The characteristic of the file
> is the contents of each row are in the same cell.
> No matter I typed "insheet using firms.csv" or "insheet using
> firms.csv,comma", the importing results are messy.
> Could anyone tell me why and how to solve?

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