in reply to Exporting from flatfile database

The easiest way would be to change the "|"s to ","s. Then, save the file with a .csv extension. The file should open in MS Excel with no additional changes. The following code should do the conversion if you're not sure how to do it:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;

open IN, "infile.dat";
open OUT, ">data.csv";

while (<IN>) {
    chomp $_;
    my @fields = split(/|/, $_);
    my $newLine = join(",", @fields);
    print OUT "$newLine\n"
}
close IN;
close OUT;

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Re: Re: Exporting from flatfile database
by grep (Monsignor) on Dec 26, 2001 at 11:34 UTC
    Your script: 
    open IN, "infile.dat";
open OUT, ">data.csv";

while (<IN>) {
    chomp $_;
    my @fields = split(/|/, $_);
    my $newLine = join(",", @fields);
    print OUT "$newLine\n"
}
close IN;
close OUT;

    [download]
    would corrupt the data with: 
    hi|I'm with GNU,Inc.|I need a comma in my title
this|will|produce|,|to|many|fields

    [download]
    Using pipes to delimit data is a better idea (usually) because it is less common in data. There are also several modules to parse CSV. Incuding Text::CSV.

    UPDATE: tilly has pointed out that Text::CSV_XS is a better solution than Text::CSV. I handles imbedded line endings in the data.

    grep 
    grep> cd pub 
grep> more beer
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      Hi, i am new to perl. Recently, i have encounter a problem and i need some advise from u guys. Hope u can help me. Anyone know how to export a .csv file into excel using perl ??? I can only write a prog. to enter some data into excel but cant seem to call out a .csv file into excel using perl. Thks in advance.
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