How to open Btrieve files

Btrieve files won't open in Excel, Access or a text editor, and that confuses a lot of people. The data is there, but it's stored in a format only the database engine understands, and the file itself doesn't say what the fields mean. Here's what you need to read one, and how to get useful data out.

Is it really a Btrieve file?

Btrieve files commonly end in .DAT, .BTR or .MKD, but an application can use any extension it likes, or none at all. Signs you're looking at a Btrieve or Pervasive database:

• The folder also contains FILE.DDF, FIELD.DDF and INDEX.DDF.
• The software's installer or documentation mentions Btrieve, Pervasive, PSQL or Actian Zen.
• With an engine installed, butil -stat filename returns the file's structure instead of an error.

Why Excel and Access can't open them

A Btrieve file is a set of fixed-size pages managed by the database engine. Inside, each record is a run of raw bytes. There are no column names or data types in the file itself. That information lives in the application's code or in separate DDF files. So even once you can read the records, you still need a map of the fields to make sense of them.

What you need

1. A copy of the files. Always work on a copy, never the originals.
2. A Pervasive or Actian Zen engine. For a one-time look, a workgroup engine on a single PC is enough. Newer engines can read most older file formats.
3. The field layouts, ideally in the form of DDF files. Without them, you'll see records but not what the fields mean.

Option 1: Browse with DDFs

If you have DDF files, this is the easy route:

1. Copy the data files and DDFs together into one folder.
2. In Pervasive Control Center or Zen Control Center, create a new database pointing at that folder.
3. Open the database. The tables defined in the DDFs appear, and you can browse them, run SQL queries, and export results.
4. For Excel, create an ODBC data source for the database, then use Data → Get Data → From ODBC.

Option 2: Look at the raw records

Without DDFs, you can still look inside:

• butil -stat shows the record length, record count and key definitions.
• Function Executor, a tool included with the engine, opens a file and lets you step through records one at a time, showing the bytes as hex and text.
• butil -save dumps every record to a sequential file for analysis.

Text fields are usually readable right away. Numbers, dates and money amounts will look like gibberish until they're decoded. Our Btrieve to SQL guide covers the common field types and how to map them.

Errors you might see

For more status codes, see the common Pervasive and Btrieve errors on our legacy systems page.

Getting the data into Excel or SQL

Opening the file is only the first step. To actually use the data, you'll need to map every field, decode dates and amounts, and export to a format your new tools can read. The Btrieve to SQL guide walks through the full process, and if you're deciding what should come after the old system, see Btrieve replacement options.