Delmited Text Plugin

The Delimited Text plugin allows you to load a delimited text file as a layer in QGIS.

Requirements

To view a delimited text file as layer, the text file must contain:
  1. A delimited header row of field names. This must be the first line in the text file
  2. The header row must contain an X and Y field. These fields can have any name.
  3. The x and y coordinates must be specified as a number. The coordinate system is not important

    4. Example of a valid text file

            name|latdec|longdec|cell|
        196 mile creek|61.89806|-150.0775|tyonek d-1 ne|
        197 1/2 mile creek|61.89472|-150.09972|tyonek d-1 ne|
        a b mountain|59.52889|-135.28333|skagway c-1 sw|
        apw dam number 2|60.53|-145.75167|cordova c-5 sw|
        apw reservoir|60.53167|-145.75333|cordova c-5 sw|
        apw reservoir|60.53|-145.75167|cordova c-5 sw|
        aaron creek|56.37861|-131.96556|bradfield canal b-6|
        aaron island|58.43778|-134.81944|juneau b-3 ne|
        aats bay|55.905|-134.24639|craig d-7|
    Some items of note about the text file are:
    1. The example text file uses | as delimter. Any character can be used to delimit the fields.
    2. The first row is the header row. It contains the fields name, latdec, longdec, and cell
    3. No quotes (") are used to delimit text fields
    4. The x coordinates are contained in the longdec field
    5. The y coordinates are contained in the latdec field

    Using the Plugin

    To use the plugin you must have QGIS running and use the Plugin Manager to load the plugin:
    1. Start QGIS
    2. Open the Plugin Manager by choosing the Tools|Plugin Manager menu. The Plugin Manager displays a list of available plugins. Plugins that are already loaded have a checkmark to the left of their name. Click on the checkbox to the left of the Add Delimited Text Layer plugin and click Ok to load it.

      Plugin Manager
    3. A new toolbar icon is now present: Delimited Text toolbar icon
    4. Click on the icon to open the Delimited Text dialog:

      Add delimited text layer dialog

    5. First select the file to import by clicking on the ellipsis button:
    6. Select the desired text file from the file dialog
    7. Once the file is selected, the plugin attempts to parse the file using the last used delimiter, in this case |



    8. In this case the delimiter | is not correct for the file. The file is actually tab delimited. Note that the X and Y field drop down boxes do not contain valid field names.
    9. To properly parse the file, change the delimiter to tab using \t (this is a regular expression for the tab character). After changing the delimiter, click Parse
    10. The drop down boxes now contain the fields properly parsed:



    11. Choose the X and Y fields from the drop down boxes and enter a Layer name



    12. Click Add Layer
    13. The layer is added to the map: