I am having problems merging .837 files and converting them to .txt in one batch.

A

andrephilipp

New Member
I am working with a program called Altova, which converts .837 files (a format used by healthcare companies for patient information) to .txt files. Right now I have to convert each file one by one, which takes a lot of time. If anyone knows how to easily merge all the files into one .837 file or if anyone is familiar with Altova, and knows how to run a whole batch within that program your imput would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Andre Philipp
 
what is the original file format?

You got a Linux box handy? Put all the files in in 1 folder and run this script

Code: 
#!/bin/bash

[COLOR="Red"]OldFiles=`ls /home/myuser/myfiles`[/COLOR]

for file in $OldFiles ; do

cp $OldFiles /home/myuser/[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]newfiles[/COLOR]/$file.txt

done

exit 0

You will have to hand code the red line, to match your exact settings. The blue folder you will need to create ahead of time. It will 'copy' all those files to the new location as text files. That won't actually convert them to say unicode text or anything, what format do these files come in, can you give me an example file?
 
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Im not sure that will work. I have to run them through Altova in order for the information to convert corrrectly. All I know about the original format is that it is a .837 file, which is a format used by healthcare providers. I dont have an example file on hand, and cant share any of the ones that I am working with because of confidentiality clauses. Is there a way just to condense all of the .837 files (which will open in wordpad) into one huge file? That way I could run just one file through Altova.
 
andrephilipp said:
Im not sure that will work. I have to run them through Altova in order for the information to convert corrrectly. All I know about the original format is that it is a .837 file, which is a format used by healthcare providers. I dont have an example file on hand, and cant share any of the ones that I am working with because of confidentiality clauses. Is there a way just to condense all of the .837 files (which will open in wordpad) into one huge file? That way I could run just one file through Altova.
Click to expand...

you could post a blank file though could you not? I know HIPPA would not allow you to share it, but a blank file is not anyone's personal info, or just fill one with with all x's and 1's and post it?

If you can open them in MS Word you can merge them all into one document.
 
I tried to alter one of the .837 files, but I cant still save it as one after I delete everything. I can only save it as a RTF or txt etc. Since I can open them in Wordpad could you show me how to merge them?
 
andrephilipp said:
I tried to alter one of the .837 files, but I cant still save it as one after I delete everything. I can only save it as a RTF or txt etc. Since I can open them in Wordpad could you show me how to merge them?
Click to expand...

MS Word can merge documents. Pile them into one location and and open up MS Word and then Data Merge Manager, or Merge Documents (depending on version). It will run you through a wizard, you select all your files to merge, it should give you a preview.

I do not think word pad can do this, only MS Word. Maybe Open Office can do it, but I dunno.
 
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