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What is File Query
File Query is the simplest and easiest way to quickly view, query, analyze and modify flat (plain-text) data files of any type. See for yourself by downloading a free
30-day trial now, or see what your colleagues are saying on LinkedIn.
"..find the records you need, just as if it was in a database."
Key Features
Open and view files of any size, and immediately be able to view and work with them. No need to import anything first.
Spread all of the fields of a delimited file into even, easy to read columns. You will never want to look at a delimited file any other way.
Easily query files to find the records you need, just as if it was in a database.
Quickly profile files, getting frequency counts, min/max length, character types and more from each field.
Modify layouts, such as adding and removing fields, or changing the delimiter. Did the client send a file with an extra field that is throwing off your load job? Just remove it.
"..find possible data issues immediately...
Use Cases
When a new feed coming in, you can run a single report that will profile all fields throughout the entire file. This allows you to find possible data issues immediately, such as:
unique fields having dupes
fields being too long
numeric fields containing non-numeric characters
required fields having missing values.
Spec out the data faster and more accurately, saving development time as well.
When jobs break due to bad data, especially during the load to the database, it can be very difficult to find the cause. How do you check the data in a large flat file? File Query gives you that ability, allowing you to immediately find the data that is causing the issue. You can find all records where a field is:
too long
contains the wrong type of data
has a duplicate value
is empty
has an invalid value
This allows you to tell if the issue is truly caused by bad data, or perhaps that database and job not being able to accept all valid values.
When reading in files to the database, or writing them out from the database, File Query makes it easy to validate that everything was moved correctly. Normally, if you load a 200 field file, and many of the fields are empty in the database, how do you know if that is because they were empty in the file, or the fields were not mapped correctly? With File Query, you won't have to guess.
Viewing the format of fields becomes easier when you can view a delimited file as even columns, making the data clearly readable.
