[libreoffice-users] cannot convert text to number in spreadsheet from csv file

Greetings,

I have the problem below with LO 3.5.7.2 on a Fedora box.

I have a shell script that generates and save to a text file called synthesis.csv many lines like 
this:

|||2013-02-15|Payment A|-100.25|008|fae|
|||2013-03-15|Payment B|-50.25|008|fae|

Calc loads that file without problems, when tell it to use | as field separator.
Lets assume the payments imports (-100.25 and -50.25) end up in cells F1 and F2

if I write in a third cell the formula =sum(F1:F2) I get zero, because F1 and F2 are seen as text.

OK, so I select those cells and do Format->Cells->Numbers->Number = -1234.12

But I still get zero, because the operation above adds to the content
of \both F1 and F2 a single quote prefix:

F1 = '-100.25
F2 = '-50.25

which, right now, I have to remove manually to make the formula work.

What is happening, and how can I fix it? Even better: how to make LO
automatically format and use strings in the format -1234.12 as numbers
when it opens the file?

Thanks,
                        Marco
-- 

M. Fioretti http://mfioretti.com                   http://stop.zona-m.net

Your own civil rights and the quality of your life heavily depend on how
software is used *around* you

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