In this chapter you learned how to get data from files and put data back into files. Specifically, you learned how to:
Get data from plain files and also from XML files
Put data into text files and Excel files
Get information from the operating system such as command-line arguments and system date
We also discussed the following:
The main PDI terminology related to data, for example datasets, data types, and streams
The Select values step, a commonly used step for selecting, reordering, removing and changing data
How and when to use Kettle variables
How to run transformations from a terminal with the
Pan
command
Now that you know how to get data into a transformation, you are ready to start manipulating data. This is going to happen in the next chapter.