Specifies the file format that the provider uses to parse all text files.

Data Type

string

Default Value

"CsvDelimited"

Remarks

When this property is set, the connector parses all text files in the target folder according to the specified format. The format can also be defined in ExtendedProperties using Microsoft Jet OLE DB 4.0-style syntax. The format defined in ExtendedProperties overrides the value set in this property, and any Format entry in a Schema.ini file overrides both.

The FMT property supports the following values:

• CsvDelimited: Fields are separated by commas.
• TabDelimited: Fields are separated by tabs.
• FixedLength: Fields are defined by a fixed number of characters. Column widths must be specified in Schema.ini.

The following example parses all text files in a folder as tab-delimited values with headers:

InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;URI=C:\mytsv;FMT=TabDelimited

If the property is set to any other value, the connector treats the literal input as the delimiter. For example:

InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;URI=C:\mypipdelimitedfile;FMT=||

Hexadecimal delimiters are also supported. Any value starting with '0x' (for example, FMT=0x01) is treated as a hexadecimal delimiter rather than a string literal.

Hexadecimal delimiters do not support escape sequences.

This property is useful for defining how the connector interprets text data when reading delimited or fixed-width files.