# File import/export: what is the best practice?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/file-import-export-what-is-the-best-practice/173100>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [August 2, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/file-import-export-what-is-the-best-practice/173100 "2009-08-02T20:26:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![explainer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/bbce88/32.png) [@explainer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/explainer)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/file-import-export-what-is-the-best-practice/173100/1 "2009-08-02T20:26:14Z")

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My app will have to import and export data in various formats. I am  
wondering what is the recommended best practice to do this sort of  
thing with Rails. Any documentation on the subject would be helpful.  
I can handle the parsing and formatting of the files, but I don’t know  
how to set up the file upload/download.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![explainer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/bbce88/32.png) [@explainer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/explainer)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/file-import-export-what-is-the-best-practice/173100/2 "2009-08-02T20:49:04Z")

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Hi,

On Sun, 2009-08-02 at 11:25 -0700, explainer wrote:

> My app will have to import and export data in various formats. I am  
> wondering what is the recommended best practice to do this sort of  
> thing with Rails. Any documentation on the subject would be helpful.  
> I can handle the parsing and formatting of the files, but I don’t know  
> how to set up the file upload/download.

I’ve found that Google typically has the info I need when faced with ‘I  
don’t know how to…’. The trick is to make ‘rails’ the first work in  
the search. So, in this case for example, I did ‘rails file  
upload/download’. The results seem to include what you’re looking for.

HTH,  
Bill