Column Delimiters

Character used to separate columns of data. Delimiters can be either printable or single-byte unprintable characters, and must be different from the escape character and the optional quotes character. You can enter a single-byte unprintable character by browsing the delimiter list in the Delimiters dialog box.

You cannot select unprintable multibyte characters as delimiters. You cannot select the NULL character as the column delimiter for a flat file source.

Treat Consecutive Delimiters as One

If selected, the Integration Service treats one or more consecutive column delimiters as one. Otherwise, the Integration Service reads two consecutive delimiters as a null value.

Treat Multiple Delimiters as AND

If selected, the Integration Service treats a specified set of delimiters as one. For example, a source file contains the following record: abc~def|ghi~|~|jkl|~mno. By default, the Integration Service reads the record as nine columns separated by eight delimiters: abc, def, ghi, NULL, NULL, NULL, jkl, NULL, mno. If you select this option and specify the delimiter as ( ~ | ), the Integration Service reads the record as three columns separated by two delimiters: abc~def|ghi, NULL, jkl|~mno.

Optional Quotes

Select No Quotes, Single Quotes, or Double Quotes. Quote character that defines the boundaries of text strings. Double Quotes is chosen by default.

If selected, the Integration Service ignores column delimiters within the quote characters.

For example, a source file uses a comma as a delimiter and the Integration Service reads the following row from the source file: 342-3849, ‘Smith, Jenna’, ‘Rockville, MD’, 6.

If you select the optional single quote character, the Integration Service ignores the commas within the quotes and reads the row as four fields.

If you do not select the optional single quote, the Integration Service reads six separate fields.

Code Page

Code page of the file definition.

For source definitions, use a source code page that is a subset of the target code page. For lookup file definitions, use a code page that is a superset of the source code page and a subset of the target code page.

Row Delimiter

Specify a line break character. Select from the list or enter a character. Preface an octal code with a backslash (\). To use a single character, enter the character.

The Integration Service uses only the first character when the entry is not preceded by a backslash. The character must be a single-byte character, and no other character in the code page can contain that byte. Default is line-feed, \012 LF (\n).

Escape Character

Character used to

escape

a delimiter character in an unquoted string if the delimiter is the next character after the escape character. If selected, the Integration Service reads the delimiter character as a regular character embedded in the string, called

escaping

the delimiter character.

Remove Escape Character From Data

This option is selected by default. Clear this option to include the escape character in the output string.

Number of Initial Rows to Skip

Indicates the number of rows the Integration Service skips when it reads the file. Use this setting to skip blank or header rows.