Here's what I usually do with import files.

Build a cursor / table with the expected structures. In this case your raw data would go in one column. Have a second column with the intended structure and a field name that matches the table you're going to send the data to.

So assuming the final table structure held a field called someid c(16), the import table structure would be...

cRaw1 c(13), SomeID c(16)


USE IMPORTTABLE
APPEND FROM TEXTFILE TYPE (WHATEVER)

REPLACE ALL SomeID WITH TRANSFORM(cRaw,"9999-99-999-9999")

USE FINALTABLE

APPEND FROM IMPORTTABLE

>my text file arrives in the following format: 7045014839271,
>
>i need it to import into a table in the following format: 9999-99-999-9999.
>
>any ideas anyone?