To Read Text Data Files

  1. From the menus choose:

    File > Import Data > Text Data...

  2. Select the text file in the Open Data dialog box.
  3. If necessary, select the encoding of the file.
  4. Follow the steps in the Text Wizard to define how to read the data file.

Encoding

The encoding of a file affects the way character data are read. Unicode data files typically contain a byte order mark that identifies the character encoding. Some applications create Unicode files without a byte order mark, and code page data files do not contain any encoding identifier.

  • Unicode (UTF-8). Reads the file as Unicode UTF-8.
  • Unicode (UTF-16). Reads the file as Unicode UTF-16 in the endianness of the operating system.
  • Unicode (UTF-16BE). Reads the file as Unicode UTF-16, big endian.
  • Unicode (UTF-16LE). Reads the file as Unicode UTF-16, little endian.
  • Local Encoding. Reads the file in current locale code page character encoding.

If a file contains a Unicode byte order mark, it is read in that Unicode encoding, regardless of the encoding you select. If a file does not contain a Unicode byte order mark, by default the encoding is assumed to be the current locale code page character encoding, unless you select one of the Unicode encodings.

To change the current locale for data files in a different code page character encoding, select Edit>Options from the menus, and change the locale on the Language tab.