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POWhat text format can I use to present data originally in an Excel spreadsheet?
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  1. POWhat text format can I use to present data originally in an Excel spreadsheet?
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    copied!<p>I have an Excel spreadsheet that has many people's estimates of another person's height and weight. In addition, some people have left comments on both estimate cells like "This estimate takes into account such and such".</p> <p>I want to take the data from the spreadsheet (I've already figured out how to parse it), and represent it in a plain text file such that I can easily parse it back into a structured format (using Perl, ideally).</p> <p>Originally I thought to use YAML:</p> <pre><code>Tom: Height: Estimate: 5 Comment: Not that confident Weight: Estimate: 7 Comment: Very confident Natalia: ... </code></pre> <p>But now I'm thinking this is a bit difficult to read, and I was wondering if there were some textual tabular representation that would would be easier to read and still parsable.</p> <p>Something like:</p> <pre><code>PERSON HEIGHT Weight ----------------------------- Tom 5 7 ___START_HEIGHT_COMMENT___ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed [...] Wait, what's this project about again? ___END_HEIGHT_COMMENT___ ___START_WEIGHT_COMMENT___ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed [...] Wait, what's this project about again? ___END_WEIGHT_COMMENT___ Natalia 2 4 John 3 3 </code></pre> <p>Is there a better way to do this?</p>
 

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