DIF (Data Interchange Format) is a text-based file format for spreadsheet and tabular data. It is now primarily used for data exchange between spreadsheet programs.

The general-purpose commands Import and Export also support this format.

The default output from Import for this format is a DataFrame. To produce a Matrix, use Import(...,output=Matrix).

$\mathrm{Import}\left(''example/timeline.dif''\,\mathrm{base}=\mathrm{datadir}\right)$

$\begin{array}{c}\left[\begin{array}{ccc}& \mathrm{Year}& \mathrm{Release}\\ 1& 1990& ''Maple\; V''\\ 2& 1992& ''Maple\; V\; R2''\\ 3& 1994& ''Maple\; V\; R3''\\ 4& 1996& ''Maple\; V\; R4''\\ 5& 1997& ''Maple\; V\; R5''\\ 6& 1999& ''Maple\; 6''\\ 7& 2001& ''Maple\; 7''\\ 8& 2002& ''Maple\; 8''\\ 9& 2003& ''Maple\; 9''\\ 10& 2004& ''Maple\; 9.5''\\ ⋮& ⋮& ⋮\end{array}\right]\\ \hfill \text{26 x 2 DataFrame}\end{array}$

$\mathrm{Import}\left(''example/timeline.dif''\,\mathrm{base}=\mathrm{datadir}\,\mathrm{output}=\mathrm{Matrix}\right)$

$\begin{array}{c}\left[\begin{array}{cc}''Year''& ''Release''\\ 1990& ''Maple\; V''\\ 1992& ''Maple\; V\; R2''\\ 1994& ''Maple\; V\; R3''\\ 1996& ''Maple\; V\; R4''\\ 1997& ''Maple\; V\; R5''\\ 1999& ''Maple\; 6''\\ 2001& ''Maple\; 7''\\ 2002& ''Maple\; 8''\\ 2003& ''Maple\; 9''\\ ⋮& ⋮\end{array}\right]\\ \hfill \text{27 × 2 Array}\end{array}$

$M≔\mathrm{LinearAlgebra}:-\mathrm{RandomMatrix}\left(100\,2\right)\:$

$\mathrm{Export}\left(''example.dif''\,M\,\mathrm{base}=\mathrm{homedir}\right)$

$2482$

With Maple 2016, the Import command applied to DIF files now produces DataFrame objects by default.