Delimted database DAT files

[Vipers]

I have a 50mb DAT file of pure text which is an address database.
the records are delimited by | and the address lines are delimited by comma.

when i open excel and open the file and ell it its delimetd then put in thre other tick box and type in | then it crashes even on a well powerful comp. tried cutting the files in half so i'd have 2 x 25mb files even one of them crashed the powerful comp. am i going to have to cut it dopwn even further or does soemone have a nifty program that'll do it without crashing the computer?

[Martin T]

If its due to the size of the file, then I cant help you, but if its an obscure M$ bug that doesn't like | as a delimiter, then load it into word, and use "find and replace", replacing "|" with ","

[Dave_S]

Well if you have 2 delimiters in there, you don't want to change them both to "," ;)

Dave

[ScoobyDoo]

Or try star office or www.openoffice.org (free!)

both handle excel files for load & save

[Martin T]

Originally posted by Dave_S
Well if you have 2 delimiters in there, you don't want to change them both to "," ;)

Dave
You are obviously more observant than me, as i didn't notice that!:p

[Vipers]

i considered doing a find and replace then thought of the same thing, already have comma delimted in there.

i believe it is just donw to sheer size of it the reason why it kills exel.

any ideas on how to make Excel XP instead of trying to send error report just to continue regardless and try and do the task.

[TomM]

Can you not delimit it with any symbol of your choice, or is it limited?

[Vipers]

well the thing is when you tell it which character to use to delimit it in excel, it then tries to refresh the preview box thingy and then it dies.