# ASCII Import

Generally the ASCII import filter accepts files with UNIX, Mac and Windows line end characters. Each line should contain at least one number. Numbers in the line will be separated by any character(s) which could not be part of a number.

Plot can also detect time values if they appear at the beginning of a text line. The following time formats will be detected automatically and treated as x values:

yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss | 2014-03-22 11:16:00
yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.S | 2014-03-22 11:16:00.834
yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm | 2014-03-22 11:16
MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss | 03/22/2014 11:16:00
MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss.S | 03/22/2014 11:16:00.834
MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm | 03/22/2014 11:16
dd.MM.yyyy HH:mm:ss | 22.03.2014 11:16:00
dd.MM.yyyy HH:mm:ss.S | 22.03.2014 11:16:00.834
dd.MM.yyyy HH:mm | 22.03.2014 11:16
yyyy-MM-dd | 2014-03-22
MM/dd/yyyy | 03/22/2014
dd.MM.yyyy | 22.03.2014
HH:mm:ss | 11:16:00
HH:mm:ss.S | 11:16:00.834
HH:mm | 11:16

If the Plot builtin import filter is not able to import your data file you can build your own Perl based import filter.

The import dialog allows to select different options for ASCII import.

Import Mode

Multicolumn: The built in import filter expects an ASCII file with one or more columns. If no field separator is specified columns will be separated by any character sequence which can not be part of a number.
Error Values: This mode expects up to 4 columns of data. The 1. and 2. will be treated as X and Y values. The 3. and 4. as X error values and Y error values. If only three columns are available the 3. will used as Y error values.

Treat period as separator: If checked treat period as field separator. Has only effect if the Field Separator option is empty.

Treat comma as separator: If checked treat comma as field separator. Has only effect if the Field Separator option is empty.

Field Separator: Defines the field separator for ASCII import. Explicit definition of the separator allows to import files with empty fields.

Ignore Lines Containing: Lines in your data file which contains this string will be ignored.

Comment Character Sequence: Anything in a line behind this string will be ignored.

Ignore leading white spaces: If checked leading white spaces in lines will be ignored

Ignore lines which not begin with a number: If checked only lines beginning with a number will be processed.

Disable Time Import: If checked Plot will not try to detect time values. This can speed up import off large files.

Custom Time Format: Enable this if the automatic time value detection don't work and enter your custom time format.

Timezone: Set the timezone for time values.

X Column: Defines which column should be the X column starting with 1 for the first column.

Treat all columns as Y values: If checked, all columns will be interpreted as Y values and the X values will be generated as sequence number. This allows also to import files which have only one column.

# Binary Import Filter

Plot allows importing of binary data. This can be done by selecting Binary Import from the File menu. In the open panel you have to select your binary file and to provide some extra informations.

Data type: Specifies the type of date in your file. Valid type are double (64 bit), float (32 bit), integer (32 bit) or integer (16 bit).

Import mode: Defines how the data are ordered in you file. Column mode expects data ordered in columns and Block mode expects a block for each column.

Swap byteorder: Allows to swap data which are generated on a platform with different byte order.

Columns: The number of columns in your file (has to be at least 1). If your file has only one column the values will be treated as Y values, the X value will be generated as sequence number. If you have more than one column the first will be treated as X value and every other column as Y value.