Re: [Gretl-users] Input of csv data - does the German version work as intended?
Am 02.02.2016 um 21:50 schrieb Allin Cottrell:
On Tue, 2 Feb 2016, Allin Cottrell wrote:
> <csv>
> date;Erster;Hoch;Tief;Schlusskurs;Stuecke;Volumen
> 23.02.2015;71,16;71,24;70,6;70,91;172.975;12.251.361
> 20.02.2015;70,55;70,92;70,22;70,62;752.159;53.136.228
> 19.02.2015;70,74;71,06;69,93;70,73;576.821;40.735.744
> ...
> </csv>
>
> Gretl running in English gets everything right automatically, but the
> importation fails when running in German -- in fact, in any locale
> that uses ',' as decimal character and with "Use locale setting for
> decimal point" selected in gretl's Preferences.
This is now fixed in git and snapshots.
Thanks!
The file did look confusing to my (German) eyes at first, because of the
thousands separators ("."). But it must be acknowledged that it is a
perfectly structured delimited text file in a German context:
- The date format with the dot "DD.MM.YYYY" is absolutely the standard
way in Germany.
- The comma is used according to the German locale.
- The dot as well (although not quite as common of course).
- And using the semicolon to delimit stuff is what I prefer as well,
given the ambiguity of the comma. (Little anekdote: I used the semicolon
as an argument separator in a formula in a paper, and one referee
complained that it was unusual and I should use a comma. Struck me as a
slightly narrow-minded comment.).
- The fact that the dates are "reversed" is only true from the point of
view of gretl's and others' conventions. Having stuff ordered with
newest first is also very common.
So I'm glad gretl supports this structure.
cheers,
sven