[Solved] Converting dashes to dash 0

[Oyonnazien]

Hi,

I've been looking whenever this issue has been faced in the past and could not apply a solution, so posted a new topic.
I have a file with a non ods format, csv like, where columns are delimited by tabs, and I want to use calc or scalc to edit and visualize the file content. But some "cells" contain only a dash "-". This is fine with my text file format, but when opening in scalc (4.1.2 in redHat6), I get these dash cells converted in "-0" (dash 0). This would be fine if copying a cell or a line, I get afterwards the cell content to be a -0 (verified in the text file).

How could I prevent openoffice to convert these cells from - to -0 ? I also use some 0, 1 and strings in my other cells. I even have some empty cells.

Thanks in advance for your help!
Yann

[Oyonnazien]

Looks like that

File added is the view I get. I also added a 0 in the text bar, as the screenshot removed it. ut in the text, this is a dash

[FJCC]

I tried to replicate your problem and didn't see that behavior. Can you post a small file that produces the problem for you? I can just contain dummy data. Also, how exactly are you opening the file?

[Oyonnazien]

Hi FJCC, and thanks for your reply.

I try to upload a small file that has this behavior. This might also come from the setup of OpenOffice.

[FJCC]

I actually wanted to get the file before it is imported into Calc. In any case, I do not see the problem in the ods file on my system. The cells with dashes contain only a dash as text. I can't think of a reason for you to see -0 but I will think about it some more.

[Oyonnazien]

I can not upload a file other than a certain type of file. What you can do, is change the extension from .ods to .rdb, as this is how I have uploaded it. Also I get a prompt to select the conversion type. So maybe your setup has a correct default.
Maybe one of my setup wants to convert the "-" into a formula. This is what I found up to now

[FJCC]

Ok, I was able to reproduce the problem and find a way around it. With the file named test.rdb, I opened a new Calc document and used the menu Insert -> Sheet From File to begin the import process. In the dialog where you can set text import parameters (like choosing tab as the delimiter), look in the Options section for Detect Special Numbers. If that is selected, the dashes come in as dashes. If it is not selected, the dashes come in as -0. I don't know why that is.

[Oyonnazien]

FJCC,

Thanks for your answer. Though I'm pretty sure I tried this before submitting it to the group.

Thanks again and have a good day!