ASCII text

On occasion you may find that you need to import data from ASCII text files for analysis. In this section, traditional rectangular ASCII text files are discussed. Although XML files are composed of ASCII text, they pose unique challenges that are discussed later in this chapter. Some examples of ASCII text data that you might need to import include 

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The most important feature of editing software is the option to save the structure in standard file formats which contain information about the structure (e,g., Mol-filc. PDB-filc). Most of these file formats arc ASCII text files (which can be viewed in simple text editors) and cover international standardized and normalized specifications of the molecule, such as atom and bond types or connectivities (CT) (see Section 2,4). Thus, with these files, the structure can be exchanged between different programs. Furthermore, they can seiwe as input files to other chemical software, e.g, to calculate 3D structures or molecular properties. 

Atom types represen t the chemical environment of an atom. The atom types associated with a given force field could be hard-wired to have specific vahiesand meaning. llyperChem also allows flexible definitions of the atom types and the associated chemical en vironmen Is. Th e ch em ical en viron men t of an atom (a set of rules for defining a type) and the default rules are in a standard ASCII text file, chem.nil. included with llyperChem. You can modify this file and compile it m a binary form that llyperChem... 

HypcrCliem provides two form s of param eter sets an. ASCII text form and the Td/ / database form eonsistent with dB.ASH IV and a large n iini her of other database packages. Since the prin cipal diffi-ctilty with using molecular mechan ics is having or obtaining appropriate pa ram eters, you may wan t to explore parameter sets as a database in the Tc// /form. 

Script files A seript file is an ASCII text file of MATLAB eommands, that ean be ereated using... 

The disk contains over 120 models in files that may contain source and executable code, sample input lilcs, other data files, sample output files, and in many cases, model documentation in WordPerfect, ASCII text or other formats. The disk contains IMES with information on >clecting tin appropriate model, literature citations on validation of models in actual applications, and a demonstration of a model uncertainty protocol. 

Importing Relational Databases and Clinical Data Management Systems 42 SAS/ACCESS SQL Pass-Through Facility 42 SAS/ACCESS LI BN AM E Statement 43 Importing ASCII Text 44... 

In most cases, the data that you use for clinical trial analyses are found in some kind of computer file external to the SAS System. The data you need may be found in a permanent SAS data set, a relational database table found in Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server, a Microsoft Access or Excel file, a simple delimited ASCII text file, or even an XML file. In any case SAS provides a wide array of ways in which to import data files into SAS. We explore these tools and the advantages and disadvantages of each in this chapter. 

SAS provides many ways of importing ASCII text files. These methods include using PROC IMPORT and the Import Wizard, the SAS DATA step, and SAS Enterprise Guide. 

The SAS IMPORT procedure (PROC IMPORT) provides a quick way to read an ASCII text file into SAS. You can call PROC IMPORT by typing in the SAS code, or you can use the convenient SAS Import Wizard to build the PROC IMPORT code for you. Let s start by looking at using the SAS Import Wizard to import the following pipe-delimited (using the character ) laboratory normal range reference file ... 

At this point, it is a simple exercise to copy the contents of this SAS log into the SAS Program Editor and make the changes that you want. In this case, at a minimum the INFORMAT value on lab test should be increased from 14 to 20. If PROC IMPORT does not import the ASCII text file precisely as you want, it will get you 99% of the way to the desired result and leave you with a way to make the finishing touches by modifying the SAS code written to the SAS log. 

The data are stored as simple ASCII text, so they are easily readable. 

Because the data are stored as simple ASCII text, text file browsers far into the future should still be able to read an XML file created today. 

O The FORMCHAR option is specified to get the simple ASCII text results to appear in a platform independent way. We discuss output formatting later in this chapter. 

In traditional ASCII text output, PROC TABULATE does provide a continued flag when the output spans multiple pages. (This is not the case with some ODS destinations, such as ODS RTF, where there is no continued flag.)... 

DEFINE OPTIONS FOR ASCII TEXT OUTPUT options nodate nocenter Is = 70... 

Because simple ASCII text is the destination for the output, some TITLE and FOOTNOTE statements had to be padded on the right with spaces to get titles and footnotes to left align. 

ASCII text is the traditional SAS output found in the SAS LST file, which is the ODS FISTING destination. With ASCII text output you are working with a nonproportional monospace font, and the only real control you have over your output presentation is in using the SAS PAGESIZE and LINESIZE options. However, traditional ASCII text with a monospace font is not a bad option. By using ASCII text with a monospace font you get these benefits ... 

You can mix complicated DATA NULL reports with more efficient PROC REPORT reports when necessary. Because your output is ASCII text with both types of reports, it is easy to combine these two reporting tools and still have a consistent look and feel to your reporting. 

You can focus more on content and avoid spending time making output pretty. In other words, ASCII text is usually cheaper to produce. 

PROC REPORT uses more of its features with ASCII text than it does when you send output to other destinations. For instance, order and group variables are repeated at the tops of subsequent pages when you are reporting to the listing destination. 

If attractive proportional font output is not required, I recommend that you always do your reporting in SAS with simple ASCII text. It is usually cheaper to produce and more flexible with page layout than any other output destination. 

Edit the RTF file with an ASCII text editor such as Notepad, and remove the final curly braces ( ) at the end of the file. Save this modified RTF file. 

PDF stands for Portable Document Format, which is an open document description language created by Adobe Systems Inc. PDF files have several advantages over RTF and ASCII text files ... 

On occasion you will need to export your SAS data as ASCII text. You may find that the recipient of your data requires that you send some form of delimited ASCII text, because that is all their software can read. In fact, delimited ASCII text is a primitive data exchange format that almost any software can read. 

You can see how the (pipe) character is entered as the delimiter in the Options dialog box. If you have more complex requirements for the ASCII text file you want to export, you can invoke External File Interface in the Select Export Type window, write customized DATA step code with FILE and PUT statements, or use some of the ODS tagsets supplied by SAS, found at http //support.sas.com/md/base/topics/odsmarkup/, that have the ability to create numerous types of ASCII text formats. 

You may find that you need to export your SAS data as something other than regular ASCII text or Microsoft Office files. In this case, the export wizards in the SAS windowing environment in SAS 9 and SAS Enterprise Guide 3.0 can easily export the following file formats ... 

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