On Thu, 10 Jun 2010, Henrique Andrade wrote:
Dear Gretl community,
When I try to export some data to a .csv file (using the following menu path File -> Export data -> CSV) I get "." as the decimal point instead of ",". I'm using a Mac with the pt_BR.UTF-8. In the Gretl's preferences menu, the option "Use locale setting for decimal point" is checked.
How can I fix this behavior?
Sorry for my poor English... Please replace "Fix" by "Change". So, now we have:
Define "change":
If I have a .csv formatted according to Brazilian settings (i.e. "," as the decimal point) I can use double-clicking to open my data using Excel. Otherwise I need to open the .csv file in a text editor and replace all "." with "," before go to Excel.
IMHO, CSV files should only use the dot as decimal separator, in the interest of portability across countries. I am aware that not everyone agrees with me on this, one notable case being ISTAT, the Italian Statistical Institute (which I find very annoying). But if the Academy of Science of Berzerkistan decided to use "@" as the decimal separator, you would still find it mildly funny to open a CSV file coming from your Berzerki co-author, full of gems like 1@234.
I think the portability is guaranteed by the .gdt file. It would be great (at least for me) if Gretl gives me the option to export data into .csv Brazilian formatted data.
The preferences checkbox is there to ensure that, as a proud citizen of your home country, you don't have a fit any time you see a dot instead of a comma and are reminded of how evil Anglo-Saxon cultural imperialism is.
I admire and respect United States a lot ;-)
Um abraço,
Henrique