# Construct the Text File

This section describes how to construct a text file containing user and group information in a format that can be imported into OmniGroupServer.

The structure of the file should follow these rules:

- Each line that is processed should have the following syntax:

      #<COMMAND> <CSV>

  where,

  `<COMMAND>` is one of the commands listed in Text Commands.

  `<CSV>` is a comma-separated list of users or groups to which the command is applied.

  NOTE: The commands `INITIALIZE`, `NESTEDGROUPS`, and `FINALIZE` do not require the `<CSV>`.

  For example:

      #USER User1,User2,User3

- Any line preceded by two slashes "`//`" is ignored.
- Blank lines are ignored.

- <CSV> entries must be either:

  - enclosed in "double quotes" with all "double quotes" in the string escaped (\)
  - listed without quotation marks, in which case commas must be escaped (\).

  For example:

  <CSV> entry | Specifies the user/group/name
  --- | ---
  `"ABCDE"` | `ABCDE`
  `"AB\"CDE"` | `AB"CDE`
  `"AB,CDE"` | `AB,CDE`
  `\"AB"CDE` | `"AB"CDE`
  `ABC"DE` | `ABC"DE`
  `ABCDE` | `ABCDE`
  `AB\,CDE` | `AB,CDE`
  `AB\CDE` | `AB\CDE`
  `AB\\\,CDE` | `AB\,CDE`
  `AB\\\CDE` | `AB\\CDE`
  `AB\\\\CDE` | `AB\\CDE`

- When you are using the text file with `action=import`, the presence or absence of the INITIALIZE and FINALIZE commands determines whether the group server uses the information to perform an incremental update:

  - to replace all the information in the OmniGroupServer repository with the information in the text file, use the INITIALIZE and FINALIZE commands at the start and end of the text file.
  - to do an incremental update using the information in the text file, do not use the INITIALIZE and FINALIZE commands at the start and end of the text file.

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