Interpreting edi mscons files

Question

I have en EDI file in mscons format. I am trying to parse the file in R and save it as a csv file. However, I do not have any good explanation how to proceed. Anyone out there worked with these sort of files?

Example:

UNA:+.? '
UNB+UNOC:3+7080005046091:14:TIMER+102953452626:82:TIMER+140312:2152+XGATE019452198++++1'
UNH+1+MSCONS:D:96A:ZZ:E2NO6A'BGM+7+1488136+9+NA'
DTM+137:201403121751:203'DTM+163:201403030000:203'
DTM+164:201403092400:203'DTM+ZZZ:1:805'
NAD+FR+7080005046053::9+++++++NO'
NAD+DO+953452626:NO3:82+++++++NO'UNS+D'
NAD+XX'LOC+90+707057500071137750::9'
RFF+MG:97645'RFF+LI:22446237_17506927'
LIN+1++1491:::SM'MEA+AAZ++KWH'QTY+136:1'
DTM+324:201403030000201403030100:Z13'QTY+136:1'
DTM+324:201403030100201403030200:Z13'QTY+136:2'
DTM+324:201403030200201403030300:Z13'QTY+136:1'
DTM+324:201403030300201403030400:Z13'QTY+136:1'
DTM+324:201403030400201403030500:Z13'QTY+136:2'
DTM+324:201403030500201403030600:Z13'QTY+136:1'
DTM+324:201403030600201403030700:Z13'QTY+136:1'
DTM+324:201403092300201403092400:Z13'CNT+1:167181'
UNT+6832+1'UNZ+1+XGATE019452198'

Answer 1

Download this application to start: EDI Notepad

Open your EDIFACT file in this tool. This will help you with context. What each segment / element is. It should also help give you context related to qualifiers and envelopes in the documents. You should find the source of the document and get an implementation guide, which will also explain their specific usage.

Once you apply context and understand what the elements are, parsing becomes easy. You can write your own parser, use an open source product like BOTS (mentioned in the comments above, or purchase commercial translation software (hundreds available).

Answer 2

The elements within the MSCONS file are well documented. See here: http://www.edi-energy.de - the latest description (in German) is available here: http://www.edi-energy.de/files2/MSCONS_2_2b_Fehlerkorrektur_2014_02_27.pdf