# Text Map Editor

The Text Map Editor is used to create and edit text maps that can be used by the functions fmapxact() and fmapregex().

The text maps are used to create a map between match text and replace text, and are typically used for data clean up and normalization. Common uses include:

- mapping from state codes to state names, or vice versa
- mapping from incoming values to standard values that are required for target CRM pick lists
- data cleanup by mapping from common errors to correct values.

The text map editor allows you to:

- create new map files - these are XML files stored in the file system, and can be moved from one system to another
- add and delete maps to or from the file
- edit each map to add or delete entries.

Maps can also be loaded from external files, in either INI format or CSV.

An INI file can hold multiple maps - each section in the file is loaded as a separate map.

A CSV file can only hold one map. Only the first two columns in each row of the file are loaded. It is also possible to only have one column in the file, in which case it is treated as the "Match" column in the map.

CSV files can be generated using SQL expressions, allowing you to query your source or target data to create the basic data for your map. For example:

select distinct myfield from mytable

might be used to query for all the distinct values in a table that need to be mapped to a normalized value.

select distinct '', myfield from mytable

could be used to generate a two column CSV files where the vales are required to populate the "Return" column.

## See Also

fmapxact(), fmapregex(), textmap(), Text Maps