Import Wizard, The Header Lines Page (ASCII)

Note: Header lines are lines of text that are not part of the data and do not share the same delimiter formatting as the data. Subheader lines also are not part of the data, but share the same delimiter formatting and therefore correspond to particular columns of data.
Header Lines Page ASCII.png

Header Lines Controls

Auto determine header lines

If this check box is selected, the Main Header Lines and Number of subheader Lines controls will become uneditable and Origin will seek to determine these two values automatically. If the auto results is not good(you can quickly verify this in the preview window at the bottom of the page), you can specify these options manually by clearing this check box.

Main Header Lines

Origin seeds this control by guessing at the number of main header lines in your file, which can be used for variable extraction. You can determine the number of main header lines by:

  • Fixed Number
    Select this radio box, and then enter the number of the main header lines (type or select from the drop-down list) or you can specify this number graphically by clicking in the last main header line in the preview window, then clicking the Refresh button to the right of this box.
  • By Leading Character
    Select this radio box to enter the leading characters to detect the main header lines which started with the characters you entered. This control is available since Origin 2018b.
Number of Subheader Lines

Origin seeds this box by guessing at the number of subheader lines in your file, which will be used for both column header assignment and variable extraction. If the seed number is not correct (you can quickly verify this in the preview window at the bottom of the page), you can clear the Auto Determine Header Lines check box and then enter the correct number (type or select from the drop-down list) or you can specify this number graphically by clicking in the last subheader line in the preview window, then clicking the Refresh button to the right of the Number of Subheader Lines box.

Line Number starts from bottom

If this check box is selected, the line numbers used in the Column Header Assignment from Subheader Lines will refer to the line numbers counted from the bottom of the subheader section. Otherwise, the line numbers are counted downwardly from the topmost subheader line.

Column Header Assignment from Subheader Lines

Short Names

Enter or select the line number to be used as worksheet column Short Name or click on the appropriate line in the preview window, then click the Refresh button to the right of Short Names.

Note:

From Origin 2017 column Short Name is restricted to alphabetical order and it cannot be edited by default. So Short Names option is hidden from the dialog. If you want to set column Short Names while importing, you need to:

  1. In the target workbook, uncheck Spreadsheet Cell Notation checkbox in the Properties tab of Window Properties dialog to enable editing column Short Name.
  2. Run
    @SSG = 1;
    
    in Command Window to show Short Name option in the dialog. See System Variable list for details of @SSG.
Long Names

Enter or select the line number to be used as worksheet column Long Name or click on the appropriate line in the preview window, then click the Refresh button to the right of Long Names.

Units

Enter or select the line number to be used as worksheet column Units or click on the appropriate line in the preview window, then click the Refresh button to the right of Units.

Comments

Enter or select the numbers of the first and last lines to be used as worksheet Comments or select one or more lines in the preview window with your mouse, then click the Refresh button to the right of Comments.

System Parameters

Enter or select the numbers of the first and last lines to be used as worksheet Parameters or select one or more lines in the preview window with your mouse, then click the Refresh button to the right of Parameters.

User Parameters

Enter or select the numbers of the first and last lines to be used as worksheet User Parameters or select one or more lines in the preview window with your mouse, then click the Refresh button to the right of User Parameters.

Extract Long Name and Units from Same Line

When Long Name and Units are in a same header line, check this check box to disable Units drop-down list and extract Long Name and Units from the same line according to the auto-detected delimiters .

Characters to skip on each line

Specify the number of leading characters to skip.

Note: When the Extract Long Name and Units from Same Line check box is checked, Origin will auto-detect following tokens to split the Long Name and Units:

  1. paired token: parenthesis (), square brackets [], brace{}.
  2. single token: slash /, hyphen -, pound #.

For single token, following cases will be considered as well:

  1. name#unit and name#unit# shall both be recognized;
  2. name###unit shall be recognized (continuous characters will be treated as one).

Preview Window Controls

Preview Font

Choose from OEM, ANSI or System fonts for the preview window.

Preview Lines

Enter the number of lines to display in the preview window.