tilde delimited file

Question

I need to read a tilde delimited file.

Fields are separated by tilde (~).

But sometimes there are multiple "tilde's" one after another (~~~~~~).

What is the purpose of multiple tildes?

Answer 1

if its tilde ~ delimited file then two tildes (~~) mean the field inside is empty This is by definition.

If thats not the case its not tilde delimited

Answer 2

That most likely just indicates the absence of data in that field.

Answer 3

Double tilde implies the column is empty.

Your bbc data has got 14 column from A-N.Put it in spreadsheet and split into columns by selecting tilde as delimiter and you can see the pattern.