1dbf version 0.7
2dBASE reader and converter for dBASE databases
3Author: Bjoern Berg
4Email: clergyman@gmx.de
5
6dbf is an easy-to-use command line tool to show and convert the content
7of dBASE III, IV, and 5.0 files. It reads dBASE databases and prints the
8content to the screen or converts it to comma-separated (*.csv) files
9which can be opened in Excel, StarOffice, and most other spread sheets.
10It can also be used to show some statistics about the content.
11
12This programme bases on the source of Joachim Astel published
1316/01/1995 in de.comp.databases and was improved and extended at some
14points. At the moment binaries could be received during
15http://www.anubisnet.de for Windows and Linux.
16
17
18Features:
19=========
20
21- CSV Converter
22dBASE III could be easily converted to CSV-files which could be opened with the
23most popular spread sheets.
24
25- SQL Exporteur
26dbf supports since version 0.6 an experimental export to SQL instruction setting files,
27so called SQL statements.
28
29- Code Pages
30dBASE III files were now automatically encoded with the optimal chars and umlauts
31for american, english and western european data sets.
32
33- Endianess-save
34Since version 0.5, dbf is usable on nearly every architecture, if it is Big Endian
35or Little Endian.
36
37
38Support:
39========
40
41For these platforms and database formats we can guarantee that dbf works
42
43Platform:
44---------
45Linux 		i386	AXP		PPC
46Windows		i386
47MacOS X		PPC
48Darwin
49*BSD		i386
50AIX 4.3.3
51
52
53Database:
54---------
55dBASE III
56dBASE IV
57dBASE 5.0
58
59ATTENTION: Since version 0.7 we cannot guarantee, that dbf supports the above
60mentioned platforms and operating systems any longer because of some major and
61important changes in the code.
62
63
64Compiling and Installation:
65===========================
66
67See INSTALL and http://anubisnet.sf.net/support.php for more details.
68
69
70Usage:
71======
72
73These commands are for all versions:
74------------------------------------
75
76- in general
77
78dbf --csv <csv-filename> <dbf-file>
79dbf --sql <sql-filename> <dbf-file>
80dbf --view-info <dbf-file>
81dbf --help or -h for help
82
83You could start the programme as follows:
84
85dbf C:\My Files\mydbf.dbf
86dbf /home/<user>/mydbf.dbf
87
88and displays the whole data on console.
89
90- converting into comma separated files (CSV) Datei
91
92dbf --csv mycsv.csv C:\Eigene Dateien\mydb.dbf
93dbf --csv mycsv.csv /home/<user>/mydb.dbf
94
95- converting into SQL statements
96
97Please note that the sql-filename also reflects the name for the table that is
98created.
99
100dbf --sql mysql.sql C:\Eigene Dateien\mydb.dbf
101dbf --sql mysql.sql /home/<user>/mydb.dbf
102
103Since dbf 0.7 dbf supports also the following handlers:
104-------------------------------------------------------
105
106--trim {r|l|b}
107Trims whitespaces in dBASE-files if necessary (r)ight, (l)eft or on (b)oth sides
108of a data set.
109
110--separator {c}
111With the flag separator you are now able to define your own separator between your
112CSV data sets. The default is ",".
113
114--noconv
115Disables the experimental code page conversion.
116
117--debug {0-9}
118Defines the different debug levels.
119
120
121Comments on some functions:
122---------------------------
123
124- show file statistic
125Since version 0.3.0 the statitical output and information about the fields are no
126longer displayed automatically, but can be shown with the flag "--view-info".
127
128- using Code Pages
129Since version 0.2.5 dbf has the ability to encode umlauts and chars of western
130european languages. With version 0.3.0 dbf can do this automatically, so that the
131flag -cs is outdated and no longer in use.
132
133- Override System Check
134With the flag --ppc you can disable the architecture check, so that you can give dbf
135a try on your Big Endian system. Maybe it works (only active in beta and development versions)
136
137
138Frequently Asked Questions / Help:
139==================================
140
141See the attached file FAQ or have a look at
142http://anubisnet.sf.net/support.php for more help.
143
144Subscribe to our mailinglist for every question:
145http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/dbf-general
146
147
148Contributors:
149=============
150
151see CREDITS for more details
152If you want to contribute to dbf or any other project of anubisnet, have a look at
153our website: http://anubisnet.sourceforge.net/volunteer/index.php.
154See also FAQ for more information on dbf, and how to help on this project.
155
156
157Copyright:
158==========
159
160(c) 2002 - 2003, Bjoern Berg
161
162Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute and sell this software
163and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee,
164provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and
165that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear
166in supporting documentation. The author makes no representations
167about the suitability of this software for any purpose.
168It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.
169
170
171Comments, suggestions and bugs to: clergyman@gmx.de
172
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