I'm trying to import a point located geophysics data file (.dat) in QGIS 3.18, which uses fixed width columns instead of character based delimiters. Excel has a feature to import these data, but I could not find a matching method in QGIS.
An example of the data, which is "Point located data (dat) [100.7 MB]" from http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/133023
195099 1950999925.00 5338572 115.112162 -21.662860 2.950 -7.859 -10.809 9787594.02 2.950 -7.859 0.05 2.67 211.91 220.82 245.01 241.71 500.000 1.500 1.500 0.06 6.00 1.500 1.500 0.5 4 1 7 7 7 3 7 7 7 3 ONSLOW A/S PS25 WRKSHP B TR GDA94 MSL GRS80 B DEG m m m um m m um m m m m um m m um MAN SUR ELN W98 SUR ELN DFA AUSGEOID98 GRS80 PEO 99999 31-DEC-99 31-DEC-99 Pre March 2003 value:978773.71mg (Isogal65 "O")
195099 1950999926.00 4427037 118.631315 -20.375324 8.000 6.110 -1.890 9786311.72 8.000 6.110 0.05 2.67 -249.54 -256.47 -243.97 -252.93 500.000 1.500 1.500 0.06 6.00 1.500 1.500 0.5 4 1 7 7 7 3 7 7 7 3 PORT HEDLAND A/S TERM PS26 B TR GDA94 MSL GRS80 B DEG m m m um m m um m m m m um m m um MAN SUR ELN W98 SUR ELN DFA AUSGEOID98 GRS80 PEO 99999 31-DEC-99 31-DEC-99 Pre March 2003 value:978645.56mg (Isogal65 "O")
195105 1951053320.00 5338583 116.114682 -23.759529 335.760 324.240 -11.520 9787736.92 335.760 324.240 0.18 2.67 32.32 -335.10 67.88 -307.83 100.000 10.000 10.000 0.06 5.00 10.000 10.000 0.5 3 0 4 4 4 3 3 4 4 3 EDMUND GATE 33-20 B TR GDA94 MSL GRS80 B DEG m m m um m m um m m m m um m m um MAN PGE ELN W98 PGE ELN DFA AUSGEOID98 GRS80 NOR TNK413 31-DEC-99 31-DEC-99 Pre March 2003 value:978787.96mg (Isogal65 "O")
195205 1952050030.00 5338837 115.780630 -32.103506 12.800 -19.849 -32.649 9793973.77 12.800 -19.849 0.70 2.67 -1006.26 -983.74 -905.64 -919.96 100.000 2.000 2.060 0.06 2.00 2.000 2.060 0.5 3 0 7 7 1 3 7 7 1 3 3 D TR GDA94 MSL GRS80 B DEG m m m um m m um m m m m um m m um DIG MIB ELN W98 ALT ELN DFA AUSGEOID98 GRS80 99999 99999 31-DEC-99 31-DEC-99 Comment is null
195205 1952050100.00 5803151 116.011741 -32.149894 56.690 26.251 -30.439 9794633.12 56.690 26.251 4.17 2.67 -242.42 -272.19 -148.57 -212.01 100.000 2.000 2.060 0.06 2.00 2.000 2.060 0.5 3 0 7 7 1 3 7 7 1 3 10 D TR GDA94 MSL GRS80 B DEG m m m um m m um m m m m um m m um DIG MIB ELN W98 ALT ELN DFA AUSGEOID98 GRS80 99999 99999 31-DEC-99 31-DEC-99 Comment is null
195205 1952050150.00 4428660 115.898128 -31.961563 16.150 -15.925 -32.075 9793758.65 16.150 -15.925 0.87 2.67 -1093.95 -1075.89 -995.10 -1013.17 100.000 2.000 2.060 0.06 2.00 2.000 2.060 0.5 3 0 7 7 1 3 7 7 1 3 15 D TR GDA94 MSL GRS80 B DEG m m m um m m um m m m m um m m um DIG MIB ELN W98 ALT ELN DFA AUSGEOID98 GRS80 99999 99999 31-DEC-99 31-DEC-99 Comment is null
I've tried a mix of tabs, spaces, etc delimiter options, but the comment / text fields include arbitrary space characters. Additionally, the full file is too large to open in Excel and save as a character delimited text file.
I would like to successfully import this file. Perhaps I've missed an option, plugin, or a regular expression I could use? I could edit the file to add delimiters using a script, but that would not be a generalised solution.
Best Answer
As pointed out above and in the comments the ddf file in the download contains the file structure which can be used to construct the following regex:
(.{14}) (.{16})(.{15})(.{12})(.{12})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{18})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{14})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{16})(.{32})(.{3})(.{4})(.{7})(.{12})(.{9})(.{4})(.{5})(.{3})(.{6})(.{8})(.{8})(.{3})(.{6})(.{10})(.{3})(.{7})(.{7})(.{7})(.{8})(.{6})(.{7})(.{10})(.{7})(.{7})(.{5})(.{7})(.{8})(.{5})(.{8})(.{12})(.{9})(.{13})(.{13})(.{15})(.{11})which will parse your data. It's a bit messy in that it doesn't include any field names, but it does seem to work when used with the settings shown on this screenshot: