### Author:  [@askvorts](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/askvorts)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2018, 2:39am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/reading-a-csv-file-with-an-unconventional-string-for-missing-values-using-textparse/10631/1 "2018-05-01T02:39:59Z")
I am trying to read a CSV file with two columns (`Date, Float64`) using `TextParse`. Unfortunately missing values are coded as “-” in that file. When `TextParse` encounters one of those “-” one gets the following error message:
```julia
MethodError: Cannot `convert` an object of type Float64 to an object of type TextParse.StrRange
This may have arisen from a call to the constructor TextParse.StrRange(...),
since type constructors fall back to convert methods.
ERROR: LoadError: CSV parsing error at line 1539 char 12:
2012-05-01,-
___________ ^
column 2 is expected to be: TextParse.Field{Float64,TextParse.Numeric{Float64}}(, true, true, true)
```
I have been unable to add “-” to the set of strings that are to be considered `NA` by `TextParse`. Which would be the best approach to solve this problem?
Thank you for your help!
---
### Author:  [@iwelch](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/iwelch)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2018, 3:59am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/reading-a-csv-file-with-an-unconventional-string-for-missing-values-using-textparse/10631/2 "2018-05-01T03:59:15Z")
I am not an expert here, but I would first read the file and then do the missing substitution. this is because it would be difficult to determine where your unusual character sits, and whether it is inside a quote or not. csv is a nasty format!
/iaw
---
### Author:  [@nalimilan](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/nalimilan)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2018, 9:07am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/reading-a-csv-file-with-an-unconventional-string-for-missing-values-using-textparse/10631/3 "2018-05-01T09:07:45Z")
Looks like the same bug as [https://github.com/JuliaData/CSV.jl/issues/198](https://github.com/JuliaData/CSV.jl/issues/198).
---
### Author:  [@askvorts](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/askvorts)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2018, 1:21pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/reading-a-csv-file-with-an-unconventional-string-for-missing-values-using-textparse/10631/4 "2018-05-01T13:21:57Z")
`JuliaDB.loadtable("myfile.csv", colparsers = [Date], nastrings=["-"])` works
```julia
#=
MWE
Input: myfile.csv
2018-01-04,1.4389
2018-01-01,-
2017-12-31,-1.4406
Output:
Table with 3 rows, 2 columns:
1 2
───────────────────
2018-01-04,1.4389
2018-01-01,#NA
2017-12-31,-1.4406
=#
```
but couldn’t find an equivalent argument to - `nastrings` - for `TextParse` (also get this CSV file from a remote URL)
---
### Author:  [@askvorts](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/askvorts)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2018, 8:04pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/reading-a-csv-file-with-an-unconventional-string-for-missing-values-using-textparse/10631/5 "2018-05-02T20:04:32Z")
Got it for `TextParse`:
`TextParse.csvread("myfile.csv", colparsers = [Date, TextParse.NAToken(TextParse.Numeric(Float64), nastrings = ["-"])])`