Question

Reading a Txt File into Excel

Asked by: rschmitt810

Hello,

I need to take a text file with 5 columns and read it into excel.  How would I go about that?

Thanks.

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Asked On
2008-12-06 at 14:22:04ID23963421
Tags

Vba

,

Excel

,

Txt

Topic

Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Software

Participating Experts
2
Points
250
Comments
9

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Answers

 

by: patrickabPosted on 2008-12-06 at 14:27:53ID: 23113861

How large is the text file? Does have a repeating pattern?

Please upload your file.

Patrick

 

by: morsunPosted on 2008-12-06 at 14:53:42ID: 23113939

You need to open excel, then File-open -> go to your txt file, in order to see it select All files from dropdown list. A new window will pop up with questions how do you want to map columns in txt to excel (using space delimiter for example), click OK and that's all. Just follow what you see on the pop up window.

 

by: patrickabPosted on 2008-12-06 at 14:57:16ID: 23113946

Could be a problem if it is a very large text file with more lines than rows in a worksheet. A different solution is then needed.

Patrick

 

by: rschmitt810Posted on 2008-12-06 at 15:13:46ID: 23114001

It is a txt file containing 5 columns with repeating patterns.  The 5th is the date. The other columns are numbers and txt.  I'd like to make this with a variable number of rows if possible.  

5 columns, variable number of rows.  The current txt fie is about 40 rows deep.  Thanks.  I'm sorry that I can't upload the txt file itself.

 

by: patrickabPosted on 2008-12-06 at 15:40:26ID: 23114082

Copy and paste the whole text file into Excel and then use Data/Text_to_columns to get the data into column.

 

by: rschmitt810Posted on 2008-12-07 at 02:59:24ID: 23115420

I'd like to do this in VB with code, not by pasting it into the sheet.  So if I was to provide a txt file, I could browse for it, choose my file, hit a button, and the sheet would populate.  I just need some basic input/output for VB from txt file to excel.

 

by: patrickabPosted on 2008-12-07 at 03:34:25ID: 23115498

rschmitt810,

Attached is a file with a macro to read in a large text file. It was designed to cope with text files that, when read-in, would occupy more than one worksheet. However it will cope with smaller text files although it does take a bit of setting up to get each element of the text file into the correct cell in the worksheet(s)

It assumes that each line of the text file is the same length and that on each line the data is in the same relative position. That's why the line length is specified and the length of each element of that line is also specified - and there must be a match of those two factors.

It does work when set up correctly - but it can be a bit frustrating to set up if you have any hidden characters at the end of each line of text. It's doable, as I just had to cope with that for an EE member in Australia. Make sure that the first line of the text file is the consistent data (no headers please).

Do please ask if you need me to explain it some more.

Patrick

Sub LargeFileImport()
  
    'Dimension Variables
    Dim LineStr As String
    Dim FileName As String
    Dim FileNum As Integer
    Dim Counter As Long
    Dim LineCounter As Long
    Dim LineLength As Long
    Dim st As Long
    Dim i_loop As Long
    Dim i As Long
    Dim str As String
    Dim rowspersheet As Long
    Dim StringLength(15) As Long
    StringLength(0) = 7
    StringLength(1) = 6
    StringLength(2) = 6
    StringLength(3) = 7
    StringLength(4) = 7
    StringLength(5) = 7
    StringLength(6) = 7
    StringLength(7) = 7
    StringLength(8) = 7
    StringLength(9) = 7
    StringLength(10) = 7
    StringLength(11) = 7
    StringLength(12) = 7
    StringLength(13) = 7
    StringLength(14) = 6
    
    'set rows per sheet
    rowspersheet = 65
    
    'set record line length to 104
    'Note: 3 characters are intentionally ommitted from the end of every line
    LineLength = 104
 
    'Ask User for File's Name
    FileName = Application.GetOpenFilename
   
    'Check for no entry
    If FileName = "" Then End
   
    'Get Next Available File Handle Number
    FileNum = FreeFile()
   
    'Open Text File For Input
    Open FileName For Input As #FileNum
   
    'Create A New WorkBook With One Worksheet In It
    Workbooks.Add Template:=xlWorksheet
   
    'Set The Counter to 1
    Counter = 1
 
    LineCounter = 0
    
    'Switch-off screen updating
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
 
    Do While Not EOF(FileNum)    ' Loop until end of file.
        LineStr = ""
        On Error Resume Next
        For i = 1 To LineLength     'Read next 104 characters from the source file
            LineStr = LineStr & CStr(Input(1, #FileNum))
        Next i
        
        LineCounter = LineCounter + 1
        'Every 40 rows processed, do the following
        If Int(ActiveCell.Row / rowspersheet) = ActiveCell.Row / rowspersheet Then
            'Switch on ScreenUpdating
            Application.ScreenUpdating = True
            'Display Importing Row Number On Status Bar - but only every 40 rows of data
            Application.StatusBar = "Importing Row " & LineCounter & " of text file " & FileName
'            MsgBox "Please now watch the status bar at the bottom of the screen to see how many rows of data are imported"
            'Autofit column to data the current worksheet
            ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(Sheets.Count).Cells.EntireColumn.AutoFit
            'Add new worksheet
            ActiveWorkbook.Sheets.Add After:=Sheets(Sheets.Count)
            're-start line Counter to 0
            Counter = 0
            'Switch off ScreenUpdating
            Application.ScreenUpdating = False
        End If
 
'        ActiveCell.Value = LineStr
        st = 1
        'Store Variable Data Into Active Cell
        For i_loop = 0 To 14
            If i_loop = 0 Then
                ActiveCell.NumberFormat = "@"
            Else
                ActiveCell.NumberFormat = "0"
            End If
            ActiveCell = CStr(Mid(LineStr, st, StringLength(i_loop)))
            ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Select
            st = st + StringLength(i_loop)
        Next
        
        'Increment line Counter By 1
        Counter = Counter + 1
        
        'Select column A of the next row in the destination worksheet
        Cells(Counter, 1).Select
 
    'Start Again At Top Of 'Do While' Statement
    Loop
    
    'Autofit the last worksheet to be processed
    ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(Sheets.Count).Cells.EntireColumn.AutoFit
    
'Close The Open Text File
Close
 
'Remove Message From Status Bar
Application.StatusBar = False
 
'Switch-on screen updating
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
 
End Sub
                                              
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by: rschmitt810Posted on 2008-12-07 at 07:56:14ID: 23116170

That is great. Thanks so much.  You the man.

 

by: patrickabPosted on 2008-12-07 at 08:02:58ID: 23116183

rschmitt810 - Pleased it did the job. Thanks for the grade. - Patrick

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