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Dictionary Format

The data dictionary format may be (optionally) specified in the data.yaml file. If unspecified, all columns are imported as strings.

Simple Data Types

dictionary:
  name:
    source: COLUMN_NAME
    type: integer
    description: explanation of where this data comes from and its meaning

In the above example:

  • source: is the name of the column in the csv. (This doesn't have to be all caps, we just find that to be common in government datasets.)
  • type: may be integer, float, string
  • description: text description suitable for developer documentation or information provided to data analysts

Calculated columns

Optionally, you can add "columns" by calculating fields at import based on multiple csv columns.

academics.program.degree.health:
  calculate: CIP51ASSOC or CIP51BACHL
  type: integer
  description: Associate or Bachelor's degree in Health

Multiple operations are supported. In the following example, if the columns apples, oranges and plums had a 0 value when there were none, and a 1 to represent if they were available, then these values could be combines with or to create a data field representing if any were true.

fruit:
  calculate: apples or oranges or plums
  type: integer
  description: is there any fruit available?