Re: I am trying to reset columns with a character ("<") to numeric and retain the "<" in another columnTable attached, just in case.
Re: I am trying to reset columns with a character ("<") to numeric and retain the "<" in another columnThis might give some ideas on what you could do
Names Default To Here(1);
dt = New Table("Untitled",
Add Rows(2),
Compress File When Saved(1),
New Column("Column 1", Character, "Nominal", Set Values({"<1", "<3"})),
New Column("Column 2", Character, "Nominal", Set Values({"<2", "<4"}))
);
col_names = dt << Get Column Names("String");
For Each({col_name}, col_names,
dt << New Column(col_name ||"_Q", Numeric, Continuous, << Set Each Value(
Num(Substitute(AsColumn(dt, col_name), "<", ""));
));
);
Search Scripting Index and Scripting Guide for Substitute() to learn more about how it can be used
Re: I am trying to reset columns with a character ("<") to numeric and retain the "<" in another columnJust substitute that part with a reference to your table. You might also want to cleanup the column selection if you know which should be used (instead of just using << get column names("String") to get all columns).
Re: I am trying to reset columns with a character ("<") to numeric and retain the "<" in another columnUnfortunately I'm not following how that code applies to my original question. I probably was not clear in my original post or am missing something (I'm a jsl novice). In any case, I'll keep trying and may need to re-frame my question. (By the way, I have a very large number of columns in play, and all but the datetime column need this treatment - far too many to define by hand.) Thanks again.
Re: I am trying to reset columns with a character ("<") to numeric and retain the "<" in another columnBelow is a script that checks for < and for any Post Script values such as "J" or "UJ" etc, and moves the values to a new Qualifier column. It then converts the column from a character column to a numeric column

Names Default To Here( 1 );
dt = Current Data Table();
colNames = dt << get column names( string, character );
For Each( {col, i}, colNames,
GTFound = "NO";
postScriptFound = "NO";
// Find rows that have < in them
theRows = dt << get rows where( Contains( As Column( dt, col ), "<" ) );
// If < is found then
// 1. Create a new column to hold the < in
// 2. Loop through the rows with < and
// 1. Add < to the appropriate row in the new Qualifier column
// 2. Delete the < from the current column
If( N Rows( theRows ) > 0,
GTFound = "YES";
dt << add Multiple Columns( col, 1, Character );
Column( dt, N Cols( dt ) ) << set name( col || "_QUALIFIER" );
dt << move selected column( after( As Column( col ) ) );
For Each( {fixRow, k}, theRows,
As Column( dt, col || "_QUALIFIER" )[fixRow] = "<";
As Column( dt, col )[fixRow] = Substr( Column( col )[fixRow], 2 );
);
);
// Find if there are any post script values on any of the rows
theRows = dt << get rows where( Word( 2, As Column( dt, col ), " " ) != "" );
// If found, then if a new column has not already been add, add the new Qualifer column
If( N Rows( theRows ) > 0,
postScriptFound = "YES";
If( GTFound == "NO",
dt << add Multiple Columns( col, 1, Character );
Column( dt, N Cols( dt ) ) << set name( col || "_QUALIFIER" );
dt << move selected column( after( As Column( col ) ) );
);
// Loop through the rows with post scripts and
// 1. Add the post scripts to the Qualifer column
// 2. Delete the post scripts from the current column
For Each( {fixRow, k}, theRows,
As Column( dt, col || "_QUALIFIER" )[fixRow] = Trim(
As Column( dt, col || "_QUALIFIER" )[fixRow] || " " || Word( 2, As Column( dt, col )[fixRow], " " )
);
As Column( dt, col )[fixRow] = Word( 1, As Column( dt, col )[fixRow], " " );
);
);
// If eiter < or Post Scripts were found, convert the column to numeric, continuous
If( GTFound == "YES" | postScriptFound == "YES",
Column( dt, col ) << data type( numeric ) << modeling type( continuous )
);
);
I am trying to reset columns with a character ("<") to numeric and retain the "<" in another columnHi - I have a table with columns that are made up of lab results (numeric values) that were entered as a text string. They are text string because some have a "<" in front of the numeric value. I need to be able to perform numeric calculations on the values so I am trying to remove the "<" symbol and place it in a new column that is named "ORIGCOLNAME_QUALIFIER" (where ORIGCOLNAME is the name of the column from which the "<" symbols were removed).
Unfortunately, the below code is not working.
Names Default To Here( 1 );
dt = Current Data Table();
compList = {};
For( i = 1, i <= N Cols( dt ), i++,
colName = Column( dt, i ) << get name;
);
// Create the columns
For Each( {comp, i}, compList,
Eval(
Parse(
"dt << New Column( \!"" || compList[i] || "_QUALIFIER" ||
"\!",
character, nominal,
formula(
x=.;
if (comp << contains ("<"), x = <);
I get the following message:

Any input would be most appreciated.
Basic Data Analysis and ModelingContent OrganizationData Blending and CleanupRe: I am trying to reset columns with a character ("<") to numeric and retain the "<" in another columnThanks jthi - The first part of your code creates a new 2-row table with pre-named columns.
Names Default To Here( 1 );
dt = New Table( "Untitled",
Add Rows( 2 ),
Compress File When Saved( 1 ),
New Column( "Column 1", Character, "Nominal", Set Values( {"<1", "<3"} ) ),
New Column( "Column 2", Character, "Nominal", Set Values( {"<2", "<4"} ) )
);
However, I am trying to keep my column names intact while adding a new column with name corresponding to each of my existing columns but with "_qualifier" on the end. (Ex: say my existing columns are chloride (character), sulfate (sulfate), ..., the new columns would be chloride (numeric), sulfate (numeric), chloride_qualifier (character), sulfate_qualifier (character), etc.
Re: I am trying to reset columns with a character ("<") to numeric and retain the "<" in another columnThat worked perfectly. And the comment lines are most helpful as they will help me understand each step in the process. This augments what I can find in the help documentation as I learn how to actually apply these jsl fundamentals to my dataset. Thank you very much.
Re: I am trying to reset columns with a character ("<") to numeric and retain the "<" in another columnI might not understand your need, and there are likely more efficient ways to do this, especially if your data has many rows, but here is a brute force method if this table looks like the result you want.

Names Default To Here(1);
id_colnames = {"well", "Sample Date"};
dt = Current Data Table();
nr =nrow(dt);
col_names = dt << Get Column Names("String");
For Each({col_name}, col_names,
If( !Contains(id_colnames, col_name),
dt << New Column(col_name||"_Q", Character, << Set Each Value(
If(Contains(AsColumn(dt,col_name), "<"), "<",""))
);
curr_col = column(dt,col_name);
For(i=1, i<=nr, i++,
curr_col[i]= Substitute( word(1, curr_col[i]) ,"<","");
);
curr_col << Set Data Type(Numeric) << Set Modeling Type ("Continuous");
); // end If()
); //end For Each()
Re: I am trying to reset columns with a character ("<") to numeric and retain the "<" in another columnThanks GZMorngan0! Sorry I'm slow responding. I just checked back on the thread.
I appreciate seeing another technique.