Hi, my question is quite simple: Can I update a csv file which is held on a unix box (and which a script on the same box uses) with Microsoft Excel running in a windows environment? Or, is there a free spreadsheet package available to run in unix that will update my csv file. I know it's easy to create a csv file using Excel, but how do I access it on a UNIX box if the file is saved in Windows?
Any help appreciated!
I don't see any problem with editing the file using Excel even if the file is stored on your unix box if the two are networked together... you could even edit the file manually on the unix box since it's just a text file with all the fields separated by commas.
I'm trying to move away from editing the file manually, that's what I'm doing at the minute. I'm setting up a system for somebody else, and I want them to be able to edit the csv file held in my ~/scripts/ directory from Excel running on windows. Basically, I don't want this person to have to use UNIX at all...
What UNIX are you using?
sorry, meant to say 'Linux' - Red HAT 9.
RHL 9 comes with Openoffice as part of the OS bundle, if the system is a standard install you could use a tool called "redhat-config-packages", you can check if the OO package is installed. I would use the Calc program to edit the file, I have found that editing some unix files with microsoft applications is useless eg I had to reconfigure a system recently, an inexperienced administrator prepared a service initialization script on a MS Windows machine, the file format was not recognised by svinit and skipped during the boot process.