[libreoffice-users] Calc: Text Columns Not Quoted When Saving .csv

  I've been going around in circles on this issue for most of today without
finding the solution. The context:

        I have several large data files provided in .csv format that need to
be edited and have column formats made explicit.

        These files are recognized by LO/Calc as spreadsheets when I open
them and I change the field separator from a tab to a comma. They display
correctly in the spreadsheet.

        I explicitly format text, integer, and floating point columns by
highlighting the column(s) and selecting Format -> Cells and selecting the
appropriate choice.

  The problem comes when I save the explicitly-formatted file: the text
fields are quoted only when they have content, not when they are blank.
This, of course, prevents correctly reading the files into database tables
or R data frames. I have tried all sorts of kludges to force Calc to display
the .csv dialog box where I can tell it to quote all text fields, but those
cells without content are saved as ,, rather than ,'',.

  What do I do so that blank cells in text-formatted columns are quoted in
the saved (or saved-as) .csv file?

TIA,

Rich


--
For unsubscribe instructions e-mail to: users+help@global.libreoffice.org
Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/
Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette
List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/
All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted