Blurb::
Selects free-form tabular file format for experiment data
Description::
A freeform tabular file is whitespace-separated text file with no
leading header row and no leading columns. For experiment data files,
each row contains data for configuration variables, observatiions,
and/or observation errors, depending on context.

*Default Behavior*

By default, Dakota imports tabular experiment data files in annotated
format.  Specify ``freeform`` to instead select this format.

*Usage Tips*


- Prior to October 2011, calibration and surrogate data files were in free-form format. They now default to ``annotated`` format, though ``freeform`` remains an option.
- When importing tabular data, a warning will be generated if a specific number of data are expected, but extra is found and an error generated when there is insufficient data.
Topics::
file_formats
Examples::
Import a free-form experimental data file containing raw experiment
data in a calibration study


.. code-block::

    responses
      ...
      scalar_data_file 'shock_experiment.dat'
        freeform


Example data file with two measured quantities, three experiments:

.. code-block::

     18.23  83.21
     34.14  93.24
     22.41  88.92


Theory::

Faq::

See_Also::
