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Research Methods Group. Importing text files. in an MS Excel spreadsheet. Wim Buysse – ICRAF-ILRI Research Methods Group August 2004. Research Methods Group. Importing text files: example. GPS. Research Methods Group. Importing text files: example. Data loggers, example weather station.
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Research Methods Group Importing text files in an MS Excel spreadsheet Wim Buysse – ICRAF-ILRI Research Methods Group August 2004
Research Methods Group Importing text files: example • GPS
Research Methods Group Importing text files: example • Data loggers, example weather station
Research Methods Group Importing text files: example • Data loggers, example light intensity meter
Research Methods Group Importing text files: example • Data loggers, example CO2 and temperature meter
Research Methods Group Importing text files: example • Data loggers, example soil moisture logger
Research Methods Group Importing text files: example • Data loggers, example rain gauge
Research Methods Group Importing text files: example • Data loggers, example ICP mass spectrometer
Research Methods Group Importing text files: example • Data loggers, example harvesters
Research Methods Group Avoid entering manually • Reading data from device and next typing in spreadsheet = increasing chance of typing errors • Reading data from device on the field, writing on a piece of paper, travelling all the way back to the office and typing in spreadsheet (often some days later) = almost impossible not to make some mistake
Research Methods Group Avoid entering manually • RULE = use cables and software to transfer data from device to computer • example = logging data from GPS onto a laptop
Research Methods Group Avoid entering manually • Example of software (for logging GPS data)
Research Methods Group Text data files • Result of logged data is quite often in ASCII text format
Research Methods Group Importing in MS Excel 2000 • File => Open gives you the “Text Import Wizard”
Research Methods Group Importing in MS Excel 2000 • In this example, fields to import are separated by commas. They are “delimited”
Research Methods Group Importing in MS Excel 2000 • Choose the comma as delimiter in the second screen
Research Methods Group Importing in MS Excel 2000 • More options in the third screen
Research Methods Group Importing in MS Excel 2000 • The data are imported in cells of an Excel spreadsheet. Not a single typing error has been made!
Research Methods Group Some functions • CONCATENATE() for merging text from several cells
Research Methods Group Some functions • LEFT(); RIGHT() or MID() to extract a fixed number of characters from a specific position
Research Methods Group Some functions • Result of =RIGHT(B2, 3) Is still text • Using the VALUE function turns it into figures
Research Methods Group Some functions • It is possible to superpose a function on a function