DBase III

2015-12-09T20:20:50Z

Pwenzel: Added link to PHP XBase

{{DISPLAYTITLE:dBase III}}{{FormatInfo
| subcat = Databases
| extensions = {{ext|dbf}}
| pronom = {{PRONOM|x-fmt/9}}
}}
'''dBase III''' is a database program.

This article describes how to export data out of a dBase III Table File (*.dbf).

== Opening the data with Libre Office ==
It is possible to import *.dbf files into Libre Office (or Open Office) Calc or Base: http://help.libreoffice.org/Calc/Importing_and_Exporting_dBASE_Files .

Libre Office will try to recognize the character encoding of the data and preselect this option in the import window. Once a file imported, it can be saved in/exported to a variety of different formats.

== Importing the data directly into a mySQL database ==
Alternatively the data can directly be imported into a running mySQL database using the linux program <code>[http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/lucid/man1/dbf2mysql.1.html dbf2mysql]</code>. Importing the data directly however could cause some problems with the character encoding for non ASCII characters.

If the mysql server is already running, the following commands will import the data:
user@linux:~$ mysql -u root -p
mysql> create database database_name;
mysql> exit
user@linux:~$ sudo apt-get install dbf2mysql
user@linux:~$ dbf2mysql -vvv -c -f -d database_name -U root -P password DATA_FILE.DBF

The data can then be exported using <code>mysqldump</code>
user@linux:~$ mysqldump -u root -p database_name > data_export.sql

== Specifications ==

* [http://www.dbase.com/Knowledgebase/INT/db7_file_fmt.htm dBase version 7 file header format]

== Metaformat files ==

* [https://www.synalysis.net/Grammars/dbase.grammar Synalysis grammar file] (for Hexinator / Synalize It!; [[Synalysis grammar file|more details]])

== See also ==
* [[dBase programming language]]

== Additional Weblinks ==
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DBase Wikipedia article about dBase]
* [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pronom/x-fmt/9 dBase III entry in PRONOM]
* [http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/fdd/fdd000325.shtml dBase entry at digitalpreservation.gov]
* [http://www.dbf2002.com/dbf-file-format.html DBF File structure]
* [http://www.dbase.com/Knowledgebase/INT/db7_file_fmt.htm dBase File Structure at dBase knowledge base]
* [http://www.clicketyclick.dk/databases/xbase/format/index.html Xbase file format description]
* [http://www.dbase.com/ Current dBase product]
* [http://www.textfiles.com/programming/FORMATS/dbasefil.inf dBase III file structure]
* [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14008534/opening-and-searching-dbase-iii-dbf-databases-in-python Opening and searching dBase III (DBF) databases in Python]
* [https://github.com/hisamu/php-xbase PHP XBase - A parser for dbf files using PHP]

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DBase III