Using Mathematica to batch-produce text files

Question

I need to make a bunch of plaintext files, all of which differ only in a single parameter. The text I want to "copy" or "batch produce" is a little bit complex, since it contains quoted areas and greek letters that I want to be output in their \[letter] format. What I would like to do is to devise a code in which I can input, say,

My house number i is "my house" number i, letter α

And, when run from i=1 to i=4 output four different plaintext files containing

My house number 1 is "my house" number 1, letter \[Alpha]

My house number 2 is "my house" number 2, letter \[Alpha]

My house number 3 is "my house" number 3, letter \[Alpha]

My house number 4 is "my house" number 4, letter \[Alpha]

respectively (i.e, the first output file the first phrase, the second file the second phrase, and so on.)

Jason's advice is very insightful, but I'm having problems with the quotations still. Is there any way I can do what I want to do? If so, how?

Thank you so much for your help

Answer 1

There are two issues here:

1. How to write a string that contains a quotation within it, when the quotation mark is what signifies to the system when a string begins and ends.
2. How to export strings with special characters, and have them written in their escaped form: \[Alpha] and not α

For the first, you need to construct the string using \" to begin and end the quotation within the string. For the second you need to export using ASCII character encoding, rather than the more modern UTF-8.

This should create the files you describe:

Do[Export["file_" <> IntegerString[n] <> ".txt", 
  "My house number " <> IntegerString[n] <> 
   " is \"my house\" number " <> IntegerString[n] <> 
   " letter α", CharacterEncoding -> "ASCII"], {n, 5}]

Old Answer

Use Write instead of Export

This command

Write["test.txt", "Hello α world \n Goodbye β world"]

produces this output in the file,

"Hello \[Alpha] world \n Goodbye \[Beta] world"

but this command

Export["test2.txt", "Hello α world \n Goodbye β world"]

give this file

Hello α world

Goodbye β world