Re: Converting .dat files to ASCII

dc Notwithstanding your contractual obligations, perhaps the simplest way to get the data is into ASCII flat files using either SQL UNLOAD or dbexport. I prefer dbexport. In any case the fact that you got permission to copy the .dat and .idx files from the RS6000 probably means that you can do it once again, only with a different command. On the Unix prompt on the AIX box, after setting up the environment so you can access the database through isql or dbaccess from a directory with enough space, do: dbexport <accounting_db_name> This will create a directory called <accounting_db_name>.exp under your current directory. FTP this directory over to the Linux box. On your Linux box, set up your system so isql runs, then do: dbimport <accounting_db_name> This will create the database on Linux and suck in the ascii files under the .exp directory into the database. HTH Sujit ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Converting .dat files to ASCII Author: dc@severson.com (Temp Nine) at internet Date: 12/11/1998 2:10 PM I'm trying to get data from a proprietary Informix-based AIX accounting application. I do not know Informix. I do not know UNIX. I am contractually obligated to leave the RS6000 & its its SE 4.x runtime module alone. So, I set up a box with RedHat Linux and downloaded the Informix & ESQL/C Bundle 7.24.UC5. I FTP's the .dat, .idx, & .h files over from the AIX to the Linux machine. I set DBPATH to the data directory. I went into dbaccess to try the load command to send the tables to an ASCII table, but it can't find the database. I believe it can't find the database because there is no database; just a bunch of .dat files. I'm so close. Can anyone help me with the next step? TIA dc@severson.com