DragonFly On-Line Manual Pages

xlcleaner(1)(TDH)                                            xlcleaner(1)(TDH)

NAME
       xlcleaner(1) - clean up Excel/spreadsheet tab-delimited export files

SYNOPSIS
       cat tabdata | xlcleaner options

DESCRIPTION
       xlcleaner cleans up the irregularities and annoyances often present in
       MS Excel tab-delimited export files, including rounding of numeric
       values to reasonable precisions.  The tab-delimited export text file is
       read from standard input and the cleaned-up result is written to
       standard output.

       Default behavior is to convert tab-delimited files to files that use
       the null field symbol (which is = by default or may be changed in your
       project config file).  Incoming lines that hold nothing but white space
       are omitted.  Blanks that are embedded in datafields are converted to
       underscores, unless -b is used.

EXAMPLE
              cat tabdata | xlcleaner -1 > out

META OPTIONS
       -1

              Equivalent to -s -r 0 -t -f .  Useful in converting tab
              delimited data exported from spreadsheets.

OPTIONS
       -r D

              Rounding option.  Round numeric values to a reasonable # of
              decimal places.  D may be used to alter the normal behavior.  If
              D = 0 nothing happens.  If D = 1 rounding will go to 1
              additional decimal place.  D = -1 rounding will go to one less
              decimal place than normal.

       -t

              Create tab-delimited output, overriding any previously specified
              field delimitation character.  Also, if -c is being used,
              comment lines will be copied to output verbatim.  Unless -b is
              used, embedded blanks will still be converted to underscores.

       -f

              The first non-comment, non-empty line is examined; the number of
              fields (non-blank or blank) is counted and this value is used to
              set the number of fields per record.  All subsequent records
              will be truncated to that number of fields.  A warning will be
              issued for any discarded fields having content other than blank.
              If your data set has blank fields at the end of the first record
              it may be best to remove these manually with a text editor
              before running xlcleaner -f.

              If -s is in effect, blank fields (spacer columns) will be
              included in the initial count and in the truncation, but then
              will be screened out before writing the result.

       -n N

              Same as -f but N (the number of fields to process) may be
              specified directly.

              -s

              skip spacer columns.  Spacer columns are empty "columns" or
              fields.  They are often created by spreadsheet users for spacing
              purposes.  This option works as follows: The first non-empty
              non-comment line is examined.  Any empty fields in this line are
              considered "spacers".  Those fields will then be screened out
              when the result output is written.  A warning will be issued if
              any content is encountered in a spacer field that is being
              omitted.  For example, if fields 5 and 9 of the first line are
              empty, and -s is in effect, then fields 5 and 9 of all records
              will be screened out.

       -c SYM

              Define SYM as a comment symbol present in the input.  Any line
              whose first non-whitespace content is this symbol will be copied
              to output with a DMS comment
               symbol (//) added at the beginning.

       -p N

              Add padding of N blanks to end of each result record.

       -b

              don't convert blanks that are embedded within data fields, to
              underscores.

       -m SYM

              Set null data code to SYM, overriding any previously defined
              null data code.

                         22-SEP-2003   TDH scg@jax.org       xlcleaner(1)(TDH)