Import data from a foreign disk file into a matrix.
(This is a deprecated method of importing into a matrix. See
Matrix::import for the currently supported method.)
May be used to import data into an existing workfile from a text, Excel, or Lotus file on disk.
Syntax
matrix_name.read(options) [path\]file_name
You must supply the name of the source file. If you do not include the optional path specification, EViews will look for the file in the default directory. Path specifications may point to local or network drives. If the path specification contains a space, you may enclose the entire expression in double quotation marks.
Options
File type options
t=dat, txt | ASCII (plain text) files. |
t=wk1, wk3 | Lotus spreadsheet files. |
t=xls | Excel spreadsheet files. |
If you do not specify the “t” option, EViews uses the file name extension to determine the file type. If you specify the “t” option, the file name extension will not be used to determine the file type.
Options for ASCII text files
t | Read data organized by column (transposed). Default is to read by row. |
na=text | Specify text for NAs. Default is “NA”. |
d=t | Treat tab as delimiter (note: you may specify multiple delimiter options). The default is “d=c” only. |
d=c | Treat comma as delimiter. |
d=s | Treat space as delimiter. |
d=a | Treat alpha numeric characters as delimiter. |
custom = symbol | Specify symbol/character to treat as delimiter. |
mult | Treat multiple delimiters as one. |
rect (default) / norect | [Treat / Do not treat] file layout as rectangular. |
skipcol = integer | Number of columns to skip. Must be used with the “rect” option. |
skiprow = integer | Number of rows to skip. Must be used with the “rect” option. |
comment= symbol | Specify character/symbol to treat as comment sign. Everything to the right of the comment sign is ignored. Must be used with the “rect” option. |
singlequote | Strings are in single quotes, not double quotes. |
dropstrings | Do not treat strings as NA; simply drop them. |
negparen | Treat numbers in parentheses as negative numbers. |
allowcomma | Allow commas in numbers (note that using commas as a delimiter takes precedence over this option). |
Options for spreadsheet (Lotus, Excel) files
t | Read data organized by column (transposed). Default is to read by row. |
letter_number (default=“b2”) | Coordinate of the upper-left cell containing data. |
s=sheet_name | Sheet name for Excel 5–8 Workbooks. |
Examples
m1.read(t=dat,na=.) a:\mydat.raw
reads data into matrix M1 from an ASCII file MYDAT.RAW in the A: drive. The data in the file are listed by row, and the missing value NA is coded as a “.” (dot or period).
m1.read(t,a2,s=sheet3) cps88.xls
reads data into matrix M1 from an Excel file CPS88 in the default directory. The data are organized by column (transposed), the upper left data cell is A2, and the data is read from a sheet named SHEET3.
m2.read(a2, s=sheet2) "\\network\dr 1\cps91.xls"
reads the Excel file CPS91 into matrix M2 from the network drive specified in the path.
Cross-references
See
“Importing Data” for a discussion and examples of importing data from external files.