Yes, Dave you are absolutely right. The thing that I did not say is that, usually when I have such cases of parameter file or reference data, I am usually extracting the data myself (or it is done by one of my colleagues) from another system, so that I know exactly what I can demand from the data, or we have something called an interface agreement specifying exactly how the data should look like.

When the data comes from unknown source or the exact format cannot be certain, then we are left with trying our best to get the best out of it, and, in the case in point, I fully agree that considering the data as fixed format is the best that can be done on the basis of what the data looks like.