FORMAT=PORTABLE

PORTABLE format is the text version of the RATS file format. It includes all of the information stored on the RATS file, but in text form. The most important use of is to create archival human–readable copies of RATS format files. It’s a Time Series Database format which can be used for input and output in all versions of RATS.

RATS Instructions

data(format=portable)	read series from PORTABLE into memory
store(convert=portable)	copy series from PORTABLE to RATS format
copy(format=portable)	write series to PORTABLE file
prtdata(format=portable)	write series from RATS format file to PORTABLE

Interface Operations

Data Wizard

You can read series using Data/Graphics—Data (Other Formats).

Series Window and RATS Data File Window

You can import series using File—Import... or the toolbar button. You can export series using File—Export..., the toolbar button, or the Export operation on the contextual menu.

Examples

This writes a series out to a file in portable format, including one header (description) line). You can add up to two of those.

copy(format=portable,header=1) / gnp

GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT, CURRENT DOLLARS

This shows how a portable file is constructed. The series are displayed separately. The key elements for each are the series name (on a separate line), the line containing the frequency and starting and ending dates, the header lines, and the row of === which ends the header.

GNP

Quarterly data from 1947:01 to 1990:04

GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT, CURRENT DOLLARS

===============================================================================

1947:01 224.9000000 229.1000000 233.3000000 243.6000000

1948:01 249.6000000 257.1000000 264.0000000 265.5000000

etc.

dedit mydata.rat

open copy archive.txt

prtdata(unit=copy)

This writes all of the series stored in the RATS data file MYDATA.RAT to a text file called ARCHIVE.TXT.