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Q115109: INFO: @ Cannot Be Used As a Delimiter with the APPEND Command

Article: Q115109
Product(s): Microsoft FoxPro
Version(s): MACINTOSH:2.5b,2.5c; MS-DOS:2.5,2.5a,2.5b,2.6; WINDOWS:2.5,2.5a,2.5b,2.6,3.0,5.0,6.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): 
Last Modified: 29-DEC-1999

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft FoxPro for Windows, versions 2.5, 2.5a, 2.5b, 2.6 
- Microsoft FoxPro for MS-DOS, versions 2.5, 2.5a, 2.5b, 2.6 
- Microsoft FoxPro for Macintosh, versions 2.5b, 2.5c 
- Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, versions 3.0, 5.0, 6.0 
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SUMMARY
=======

The at sign ("@") cannot be used as a delimiter in FoxPro versions 2.5 and 2.6
for MS-DOS and Windows when you are using the APPEND command to append
information from an ASCII text file.

MORE INFORMATION
================

A number of UNIX-based products such as EMPRESS generate ASCII files using @
signs as delimiters. The following is an example of an ASCII file generated by
EMPRESS version 6.0 running on a Sun Microsystems SPARC workstation:

  704@575@1111@JOHN B SMITH
  704@575@1122@FRANKLIN T WOND
  704@575@1133@ALICIA J ZELAYA

However, when you use @ as a delimiter with the APPEND command, as in the
following example

  APPEND FROM <Text_Filename> DELIMITED WITH @

(where the <Text_Filename> is the name of the ASCII file), FoxPro will not
recognize the @ sign as a delimiter and will try to include each record from the
ASCII file in the first field of the FoxPro .DBF file.

To correct this problem:

1. In the Command window, type the following to open the text file: MODIFY FILE
  <Text_Filename>

2. From the Edit menu, choose Find.

3. Type "@" (without the quotation marks) in the Look For text box, and type ","
  (without the quotation marks) in the Replace With text box. Then choose
  Replace All.

4. Save the file, and then use the following APPEND statement: APPEND FROM
  <Text_Filename> DELIMITED WITH ,

Additional query words: FoxMac FoxDos FoxWin

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Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbHWMAC kbOSMAC kbVFPsearch kbAudDeveloper kbFoxproSearch kbZNotKeyword3 kbFoxPro250bMac kbFoxPro250cMac kbFoxPro250DOS kbFoxPro250aDOS kbFoxPro250bDOS kbFoxPro260DOS kbFoxPro260 kbFoxPro250 kbFoxPro250a kbFoxPro250b kbVFP300 kbVFP500 kbVFP600
Version           : MACINTOSH:2.5b,2.5c; MS-DOS:2.5,2.5a,2.5b,2.6; WINDOWS:2.5,2.5a,2.5b,2.6,3.0,5.0,6.0
Issue type        : kbinfo

=============================================================================

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