List Merge Software

List Merge Software - CSVMerge

Updated 3 April, 2001

QUT wishes to make this software available to all CAUL member institutions.
Please do not share the software outside CAUL.
QUT is able to supply only limited support - contact m.borchert@qut.edu.au.

Use this program to compare lists, such as lists of journal titles, in .csv spreadsheet format.
The program can be used to identify total, matched, and unique spreadsheet rows.

Downloading the Program

Download CSVMerge.

Install the program.

Preparing Files to Merge

Firstly prepare files you want to compare.
They must be in .csv format (a save option in MS Excel).
Include all fields of data you wish your final spreadsheet to contain.
Arrange your fields so that the field you want to sort by is listed first, as CSVMerge sorts on the first field of any .csv file only.
Keep file names less than 8 characters with no spaces.

Running the Program

The program needs to be run in Command Prompt (DOS) mode.

>From your desktop:

Start
Programs
Command Prompt

c:\ cd CSVMerge

CSVMRG4 to start the program

exit to exit the command prompt

Syntax: CSVMRG4 file1 numfields1 file2 numfields2 outfile [options]

Takes two csv files, matches them on the first field of each and puts any matching lines into a new file, where all but the first field of the second file are added to those from the first file.

- ignores leading, trailing and double spaces
- ignores case
- ignores leading the's
- matches & with and
- matches s with z (as in organi[sz]ation)
- If match is not exact will display on screen

Options:

k1: Keep non matching lines from file1
k2: Keep non matching lines from file2
k1k2: Keep non matching lines from both

Results

Example

Set 1 = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Set 2 = 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

No options, result = 4, 5 (and will add merged data from both files)

k1 option, result = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (and will add merged data from both files)

k2 option, result = 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (and will add merged data from both files)

k1k2 option, result = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (and will add merged data from both files)

And a Few Comments

Almost no error checking - watch out. Probably be a good idea to sort and dedupe files first.
eJournal aggregators are not especially good at journal title authority control.
Be aware you will get non matches because the same titles will vary across databases.
Some aggregators qualify their titles with place of publication etc.

Last modified: 2 April 2001

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