Databank format

The databank format was popularized by microTSP. It is primarily used for data of a fixed annual sample frequency (annual, quarterly, monthly) and for undated data. It is supported by TSP, EViews, and many other econometric applications.

The databank file is poorly documented, by but inspection it can be seen to be an ASCII text file containing the data for a single series. Traditionally the name of the file ends with extension .db. A databank file is formatted linewise. Initial comment lines begin with a quote. For dated series, the next three lines specify the frequency, start date, and end date. (For undated series, the next two lines specify the start index and end index.) The remaining lines are data: one observation per line, or NA if missing.

Formulated in 2005, the open databank format is a modest extension and more rigorous specification of the traditional databank format. A conforming reader and writer is provided by EconPy.