Hello Jens,

I would strongly argue that a missing is a missing and a 0 (zero) is a very distinct value - hence never turn missings into zero by default... or in short: Option 2 Bests Max

On 10 Mar 2006, at 10:21, epidata-list@lists.umanitoba.ca wrote:

A question has come up.

Please consider how you find reading of a CSV file in analysis appropriate:

In a csv file the following data is found: id, s, pos, sex, ill 1,.,.,f,0 2...... etc (rest of records)

The data in line can be interpreted in two ways: Option 1: ID= 1 s= 0.0 pos=0.0 SEX = "f" ill = 0

Option 2: ID= 1 s= . pos=. SEX = "f" ill = 0

In other words the question is how to read ",.," should it be: Option 1: as 0.0 (which is current behaviour) or Option 2: .

Any comments on desired behaviour appreciated.

regards

Jens Lauritsen EpiData Association _______________________________________________ EpiData-list mailing list EpiData-list@lists.umanitoba.ca http://lists.umanitoba.ca/mailman/listinfo/epidata-list