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I have the following file TSV file p.txt containing a single line of 3 values:

"22p" "22o" "22u"

(The actual files are many lines, i.e. 2D, but I'm sticking to this minimum example)

Using either Import["p.txt", "TSV"] or Import["p.txt", "Table"] produces the same unintended output of:

{{22, "22o", "22u"}}

I.e. the first entry is falsely interpreted as a value and the letter "p" is removed. I would like to have every entry interpreted as a string. How to achieve this?

I know how to do it using the ReadList command. But I probably cannot use it as I rely on the CharacterEncoding->"Unicode" option of Import for the data files. If there is another way to resepct the files Byte Encoding, I could also use ReadList.

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1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Disable automatic conversion to numbers:

Import["p.txt", "Table", "Numeric" -> False]

(* {{"22p", "22o", "22u"}} *)
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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks again. I wish some of those things were documented better. But probably impossible looking at the huge number of options present in Mathematica. $\endgroup$
    – tobalt
    Commented Jan 3, 2022 at 12:56
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    $\begingroup$ Yes, Import is a very general function, and you have to look into the documentation of the format, such as "Table". $\endgroup$
    – Domen
    Commented Jan 3, 2022 at 12:58

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