FreeCEN Administration Tools—dat2csv messages

Fatal and general errors

The Fatal errors marked (*) occur before the error file has opened so will only appear on the console window.

Fatal: Census year cannot be determined from file name (<filename>): The format of the file name was not recognised. See the main documentation page.
Fatal: Piece number in file name (<piece>) is not numeric: As above.
Fatal: Part number in file name (<part>) is not valid/numeric: As above
Fatal: Full file name required including the three letter extension: The file extension was missing. Unchecked files should be .DAT, checked ones .CHE and validated ones .VLD.
Fatal: dat2csv does not support WEB format for unchecked records: It makes no sense to publish unchecked data.
Fatal: Aux file (<name>) failed to open: WEB format requires some extra data files (there is a supplementary message).
Fatal: Too many counties in aux file: There is a limit of 150 which should be plenty.
Fatal: Input file (<name>) failed to open: There was an error trying to open the file (there is a supplementary message). Often this is a typing error.
Fatal: Output file (<name>) failed to open: Similar to the above but the reasons can be obscure. The supplementary message should help.
(*)Fatal: Messages file (<name>) failed to open: Ditto for the messages file.
Fatal: Template file (template.htm) failed to open: Ditto for the HTML template file. Regrettably, in this case, the program stops dead so in some circumstances you may not be able to read the message before the window vanishes.
Fatal: Template file short, it ends with a lone %: Check the syntax of the template file, a “%” should always be followed by an insertion code.
(*)Fatal: Program path too long, move it closer to the root of the disk: The program is installed too deep in the file structure so the path name is more than 127 characters. Move it to a simpler path.
(*)Fatal: File path too long, move it closer to the root of the disk: The data file too deep in the file structure so the path name is more than 127 characters. Move it to a simpler path.
Error: Short record at end of file - possibly truncated: The data file is short as the last entry is an incomplete record. I would suggest that you look for backup copies to see if any lost data can be recovered.
Error: record n re-aligning by backspacing m characters: It won't backspace far, but will sort out many problems. The primary error has been corrected, but you will need to check the consequences.
Error: record n re-aligning by skipping m characters: Similar to above. NOTE: —if it skips a couple of hundred characters then there is probably a record missing in the output because it was so badly corrupted that it could not be used.
Error: Carriage-Return detected in record n: Often in the notes field. Text editor? or bug in IN-CENS? It is removed. Other non-printables are removed silently. The original problem has been corrected but you will need to check the surrounding records for knock-on effects.

Data items and corresponding error messages

Although dat2csv does a lot of data checking, it does not check records in relation to each other - e.g. sequence of pages, schedules etc. csv2dat does a lot more of this.

Warning: record n: Marked deleted [ - removed]: The record is marked as deleted by the checker. If the -z (STRIP) option was chosen then the record is removed (as indicated), otherwise the program does not delete them automatically, but leaves it for you to do after checking. The output data file is marked with “DELETED” in the “Notes” column (BRIEF mode) or a ‘D’ in column A (FULL mode). NOTE:—ignoring these messages could re-introduce data records into the file which earlier workers had removed.
Warning: Old format file, Book numbers not in use: The (1841) file has old format Cornwall parish numbers or Registration Districts. These are passed through unchanged.
Warning: Book numbers not set: The field is zero or blank indicating that they have not yet been set in this (1841) file
Error: record n, household number = 0: Probably caused by a bug in IN-CENS. In -a (ALL) mode this needs to be corrected but can be ignored in the default (SS-CENS) mode.
Error: record 1, household number = m: There may be data missing from the start of the file. I would suggest that you look for backup copies to see if any lost data can be recovered.
Warning: record n, household number = <m> not numeric
Warning: record 1, household member number = m: There may be data missing from the start of the file.
Warning: record n, Household member number = <m> not numeric
Info: record n, household member number = 0: CHECK-CENS does this, but it doesn't seem to matter
Info: record n, Civil parish missing
Warning: record n, ED suffix = <c> not alphanumeric
Info: record n, ED = <m> not numeric
Info: record n, ED suffix = <c>: A check for - or X. Replaced by blank
Info: record n, Folio number = <m> not numeric
Info: record n, Folio suffix = <c> not alphabetic
Info: record n, folio suffix = <c>: A check for - or X. Replaced by blank
Info: record n, Page number = <m> not numeric
Info: record n, Schedule number = <m> not numeric
Info: record n, Schedule number = -: Replaced by 0 (zero)
Warning: record n, Schedule number is blank: Replaced by 0 (zero)
Info: record n, Schedule number suffix = <c> not alphabetic
Info: record n, Schedule number suffix = <c>: A check for - or X. Replaced by blank
Info: record n, House number = <m> not numeric
Info: record n, house number = m: A check for 0 (zero) or -, replaced by blank
Info: record n, House number suffix = <c> not alphabetic
Info: record n, House number suffix = <c>: A check for - or X. Replaced by blank
Info: record n, Building/Unoccupied flag = < >: Replaced by -
Info: record n, building/unoccupied flag = <c> invalid
Info: record n, surname missing
Info: record n, forename(s) missing
Info: record n, name flag = <c> invalid
Info: record n, relationship missing
Info: record n, condition = <c> invalid
Info: record n, sex = <c> invalid
Info: record n, Age = <m> not numeric
Info: record n, age unit = <c> invalid
Info: record n, detail flag = <c> invalid
Info: record n, occupation flag = <c> invalid
Info: record n, county code missing
Info: record n, birth place missing
Info: record n, birth place flag = <c> invalid
Info: record n, Language marker = <c> invalid: All should be present on Welsh pieces after 1871.
Info: record n, Unexpected Language marker = <c>: If the piece is indeed Welsh after 1871, and this occurs a lot, it is probably due to a missing language field on the first record.
Info: record n, Eccl District missing

The output file needs to be checked carefully if synchronisation errors are detected.

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