.. index::
   single: ASCII Files
   single: G7 Command; punchvec
   single: G7 Command; pv
   single: G7 Command; pmpunch
   single: G7 Command; vp
   single: G7 Command; punch

Writing Vam File Data to ASCII Files
====================================
	
It sometimes is necessary to take data from a Vam file and print it to an ASCII file.  For example, we may have used the Windows cut and paste commands to move data from a spreadsheet into the window of the *show* command, but we want an ASCII version of the file so that we will not need to repeat this manual procedure if we rebuild the Vam file from scratch.   The following commands provide several ways to print matrix and vector data to files that easily can be read back by *G7* or, in some cases, by other programs.

**pmpunch <filename> <matname> [precision]**
   The non-zero elements of the matrix <matname> are written into the named file <filename> as input for the *pmatin* command.  The <precision> argument gives the number of decimal places.  The years to be written are determined by the current values of *fdates*.  This command especially is useful for converting a rectangular matrix in a Vam file into a packed matrix.  One writes it out as an ASCII file with this command and then reads it in with the *pmatin* command.

| **punchvec <filename> <vecname> <startyear> <endyear> [<width> <precision>]**
| **pv**
|    Print a vector to a file for all sectors, for the years specified.  The optional <width> and <precision> arguments again specify the field width and number of decimal places.  The output file starts with a number of comment lines, telling the name of the vector, starting and ending years, and format information.  Then one comment line gives the years as column headings.  Each following line of the file contains the time series for one sector, with the name of the series followed by the time series of data.

| **punch5 <filename> <vecname> [<width> <precision> <IndexWidth>]**
| **p5**
|    Print a matrix or packed matrix to a file in *punch5* format.  The years written are determined by the current value of *fdates*.  Each year is written with a header that is a *matin5* command, which tells *matin5* also what field width, precision, and index width to use.  (The <IndexWidth> parameter is the width of the row and column numbers in the file.)  Thus, a file created with *punch5* can be read back into *G7* using the *matin5* command.  This provides a convenient way to convert packed matrices into normal matrices.  The *punch5* format prints 5 non-zero matrix cells to a line, with row number, column number, and cell value for each cell.

| **vp <vector_name> [r|c] [field_width] [decimal_points]**
| **vp <matrix_name> <view><line> [field_width] [decimal_points]**
|    Write the named matrix to the currently open "save" file.  As you can see, this command has a format and options like those of the *show* command.

   For example::

      save am.dat 
      vp am y 2000  9  6
      save off

   Note that the use of save files in conjunction with the *matty* or *type* commands also are useful ways to capture Vam data in ASCII form file.  Furthermore, since the *Compare* program can work with Vam files, you can use the *\\gdata* command in that program to make neat ASCII file printouts of vector or matrix time series from a Vam file.