APPEND FROM

    This option is used to append information from one file to the bottom of another. For example, you may create a new file with the fields WORD and AVA. If you open this file and request to APPEND FROM AAND, all the information contained in AAND.DBF in the fields WORD and AVA will be added to your new file.
    In Star4Win the APPEND FROM command is enhanced by the SCOPE and CONDITION clauses.

• The SCOPE is a string of numbers (e.g. 10-200) meaning that the operation should be performed only for the records specified. If you enter -100 the program will automatically suppose that the starting record is 1; if you enter 100- the program will suppose that the final record is the last record of the file.
• The CONDITION is any valid dBase expression (by default it is .T., which means that all records will be appended). You may also write, e.g.: "s" $ WORD in which case only records from AAND.DBF containing the letter s in the field WORD will be added.

NOTE: make sure that the field types of identical fields in both files have the same type. For example, if the field AVA in your newly created database has the field type N(umeric) while the field AVA in the AAND.DBF is C(haracter), no information will be added and you will receive only an error message.

    You can use the same ASSIST option to append information from a text file to the bottom of your database file. If the system does not recognize the file you specified as a valid database file it treats it as a text file. In that case you will see a different dialogue box and will be asked for a delimiter and parentheses.
    In text format fields may be delimited by some delimiter (e.g. a comma or a semicolon); the contents of a character string may be enclosed into parentheses (e.g., "ashes, dust") which are useful so as not to treat commas or semicolons within parentheses as delimiters. This is the so called SDF format ("standard delimited format") and many database systems can export their databases in this shape. SDF texts will be recognized by the APPEND FROM command and the text will be distributed into the fields of your database.
    If you do not enter any specific delimiter or parentheses Star4Win will treat comma (,) as the default delimiter and the double quote (") as the default parenthesis.

    On other ways of converting a text file to a database see Converting file formats.