Quotation mark problems

[Matthew]

I have certain fields in a text file that have quotation
marks within them. For example a product description
field may have the size of the item in it which might say
4"x6" to mean 4 inches by 6 inches. problem: when i try
to import into access, the fields that contain quotation
marks are not imported. is there a way to have these
records imported even though they contain quotes? any
suggestions would be great. thanks. matthew.

 

[John Nurick]

Hi Matthew,

1) It sounds as if the text file is in CSV format, with commas between
fields and quote marks around text values. In that case, you need to
double any quote marks within the data, e.g. instead of
123,"Size 4"x6" approximately","Next Field"
use
123,"Size 4""x6"" approximately","Next Field"

2) Alternatively, change the field separator character from a comma to
one that you're sure won't appear anywhere in the data. The tab
character Chr(9) and the pipe character | are often used. If you do
this, you don't need the quote marks around text fields, and therefore
can use them freely within the data.

3) If you are using Unicode-compatible software (e.g. Access 2000 or
later) and a suitable font, you can use the "double prime" character
(U+2033) as an inch sign (and the "prime" U+2032 as a foot sign). This
is typographically more correct and avoids the problems with the quote
mark.