Initial data cleanup step
When you import your data set to the Minitab Data Center, the
entire data set is cleaned according to the initial cleanup settings.
The initial cleanup step is always first in the list of steps and is the only step that
affects all the columns.
Note
The initial cleanup step cannot be deleted or moved.
Confirm the default choices for how to handle whitespace, nonprintable characters, dates
with regional settings, missing values, and text case inconsistencies. These choices
apply to the entire data set.
- To see all the steps, select Open Steps.
- Open the step settings to specify the initial data cleanup options.
- Change any default settings for this file.
- Trim whitespace leaves only one space between words, without any other whitespace characters like tabs. Also removes all whitespace before the first word and after the last word.
- Remove nonprintable characters removes formatting marks such as line breaks and tabs.
- Format dates based on regional settings uses the regional settings of your Minitab Solution Center global settings.
- Create columns with equal lengths populates empty cells with missing values to make all columns have
the same number of rows. Select Remove rows with missing values in every column to remove empty rows.
Note
Some data prep steps require that all data columns have the same number of rows. For more information, go to Unequal column lengths.
- Normalize Case specifies the letter case of your text values.
- Do not normalize keeps the original text from the file.
- Uppercase capitalizes all letters.
For instance, SALES ASSOCIATE.
- Lowercase does not capitalize any letters.
For instance, sales associate.
- Proper case capitalizes the first letter of each word.
For instance, Sales Associate.
- Sentence case capitalizes the first letter of the first word.
For instance, Sales associate.
- Select OK to save your changes.
