# Export to CSV gives unformatted output and unexpected characters

I want to export data I collected in a Table to a CSV (or XLSX)-File. However, the output is not very handy, it is not in a column-shape but surrounded by {} and in my more complicated example, I get unexpected numbers such as -6 and a lot of spaces when I try to preview it in Excel. Furthermore, I am unable to import the data in R for further use.

My more or less reproducible example:

(* creating some data *)
fObs = Flatten[Table[{
a,
b,
e,
d,
f,
a,
b,
e,
d,
f,
a,
b,
e,
d,
f,
z}, {b, {0, .25, .50, 0.75, 2, 5,
36}}, {e, {0.0001, .250001, .500001, 0.750001, 1}}, {a, {2, 4.5,
4, 7.5, 0}}, {d, {0, 3.25, 3.5, .75}}, {f, {0, 2.25,
2.5, .75}}, {z, {0, .25, 0.5, .75}}], 5];


Next, I want to convert the data to NumberForm (in order to get rid of fractions like 1/4, which is complicated to convert later on (if there is a better way to get rid of fractions, let me know)

fObsNo = NumberForm[fObs // N, {4, 3}]


Finally, I export

Export[NotebookDirectory[] <> "test.csv", fObsNo]


The output looks like this:

But I expected something like this. I do not see a pattern why it sometimes gives correct output and sometimes doesn't...

Do not Export result of NumberForm, Map it instead:
Export[NotebookDirectory[] <> "test.csv", Map[NumberForm[N@#, {4, 3}] &, fObs, {2}]]

• Head[fObsNo] is NumberForm, but for proper exporting the object should be List as Head[Map[NumberForm[N@#, {4, 3}] &, fObs, {2}]] shows. With this Map we just change the appearance of each number, not the structure as the whole. – Alx Nov 13 '19 at 15:50