# Write plain or templated text

Publish / file

A variant of [Write another file format](https://meridian.online/operations/write-another-file-format).

Write values, messages or rows laid out by a template to a plain text file.

Page: <https://meridian.online/operations/write-another-file-format/write-plain-or-templated-text>

## Status

Runs as a SQL step.

arcform carries it as a `sql:` step today.

## The DuckDB step

write rows laid out by a template to a text file

It reads the `orders` table the proofs share. Create it first:

```sql
CREATE TABLE orders AS SELECT * FROM (VALUES
  (1,  'Alice Ng',      'north', DATE '2026-01-03', 120.00, 'widget', 'a|b',   '{"channel":"web","items":[1,2]}'),
  (2,  'alice ng',      'north', DATE '2026-01-05',  80.50, 'gadget', 'b',     '{"channel":"shop","items":[3]}'),
  (3,  'Bob  Okafor',   'south', DATE '2026-01-05', 300.00, 'widget', 'a|c',   '{"channel":"web","items":[4,5,6]}'),
  (4,  'Carla Díaz',    'east',  DATE '2026-01-09',  NULL,  'gizmo',  NULL,    '{"channel":"web","items":[]}'),
  (5,  'Bob Okafor',    'south', DATE '2026-01-12',  45.25, 'gadget', 'c',     '{"channel":"phone","items":[7]}'),
  (6,  'Dev Patel',     'west',  DATE '2026-01-12', 510.00, 'widget', 'a',     '{"channel":"web","items":[8,9]}'),
  (7,  'Carla Diaz',    'east',  DATE '2026-01-20',  99.99, 'gizmo',  'b|c',   '{"channel":"shop","items":[10]}'),
  (8,  'Dev Patel',     'west',  DATE '2026-02-02', 510.00, 'widget', 'a',     '{"channel":"web","items":[8,9]}'),
  (9,  'Eve Larsen',    NULL,    DATE '2026-02-03',  15.00, 'gadget', NULL,    '{"channel":"web","items":[11]}'),
  (10, 'Alice Ng',      'north', DATE '2026-02-10', 220.00, 'gizmo',  'a|b|c', '{"channel":"phone","items":[12,13]}')
) t(order_id, customer, region, order_date, amount, product, tags, meta);
```

Then run the statement:

```sql
COPY (SELECT line FROM (
  SELECT 'ORDER REPORT' AS line, 0 AS pos
  UNION ALL SELECT format('{:>3} {:<12} {:>8} {}', order_id, customer, coalesce(format('{:.2f}', amount::DOUBLE), 'n/a'), CASE WHEN amount >= 300 THEN '*' ELSE '' END), order_id
            FROM orders WHERE order_id <= 4
  UNION ALL SELECT format('{} orders, total {:.2f}', count(*), sum(amount::DOUBLE)), 1000 FROM orders WHERE order_id <= 4
  ) ORDER BY pos) TO '<your_scratch_dir>/report.txt' (FORMAT csv, HEADER false, QUOTE '', ESCAPE '', DELIMITER '~');
SELECT CASE WHEN ((SELECT content FROM read_text('<your_scratch_dir>/report.txt')) = 'ORDER REPORT' || chr(10) || '  1 Alice Ng       120.00 ' || chr(10) || '  2 alice ng        80.50 ' || chr(10) || '  3 Bob  Okafor    300.00 *' || chr(10) || '  4 Carla Díaz        n/a ' || chr(10) || '4 orders, total 500.50' || chr(10)) THEN 'as expected' ELSE error('the report was not a title, four laid-out order lines with a star on the 300 order and n/a for the missing amount, and a total') END AS verdict;
```

Replace `<your_scratch_dir>` with a directory of your own that you can write to before running the statement.

The statement writes `report.txt` itself, in `<your_scratch_dir>`.

It needs nothing installed beyond DuckDB itself.

## What other tools call it

Meridian's classification; an independent blind rating agreed on 95.7% of 324 rows (variant, version 3).

- EasyMorph: [`Export as plain text`](https://help.easymorph.com/doku.php?id=transformations:exportplaintext) (read 2026-09-27)
- Apache Hop: [`Write to file`](https://hop.apache.org/manual/latest/workflow/actions/writetofile.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Apache NiFi: [`FreeFormTextRecordSetWriter`](https://nifi.apache.org/components/org.apache.nifi.text.FreeFormTextRecordSetWriter/) (read 2026-09-27)
- RapidMiner Studio: [`Write Document`](https://docs.rapidminer.com/latest/studio/operators/extensions/Text%20Processing/write_document.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- RapidMiner Studio: [`Write Message`](https://docs.rapidminer.com/latest/studio/operators/utility/files/write_message.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- RapidMiner Studio: [`Write Special Format`](https://docs.rapidminer.com/latest/studio/operators/data_access/files/write/write_special.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- RapidMiner Studio: [`Write as Text`](https://docs.rapidminer.com/latest/studio/operators/utility/files/write_as_text.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Talend: [`tFileOutputRaw`](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/components/8.0/raw/raw-component) (read 2026-09-27)
- VisiData: [`save-col`](https://github.com/saulpw/visidata/blob/7609212ec2febafa9caba7183cbebfaf49627909/visidata/save.py#L252) (read 2026-09-23)
- VisiData: [`save-col-keys`](https://github.com/saulpw/visidata/blob/7609212ec2febafa9caba7183cbebfaf49627909/visidata/save.py#L253) (read 2026-09-23)
- VisiData: [`txt (saver)`](https://github.com/saulpw/visidata/blob/7609212ec2febafa9caba7183cbebfaf49627909/visidata/save.py#L225) (read 2026-09-23)