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

On Sat, Apr 19, 2014 20:05:39 PM +0200, Marco Fioretti wrote:
> 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|

I had a flash (some would call it a desperate shoot in the dark...),
and modified the script to enclose in double quotes the numbers above:

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

now everything works as expected. When I open the CSV file with calc,
I can just write in another cell, WITHOUT any manual cell reformatting,

=sum(F1:F2)

and I get -150.50 displayed in that cell. Yay!

Now, if someone could explain **why** this works, or even better: why
this was necessary on my system, but not for other people who wrote to
me privately to help debugging the problem, it would be even better...

   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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