# Odkmeta error "column header not found"

**URL:** <https://forum.getodk.org/t/odkmeta-error-column-header-not-found/16976>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [December 27, 2018, 3:43pm UTC](https://forum.getodk.org/t/odkmeta-error-column-header-not-found/16976 "2018-12-27T15:43:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![yuliab](https://getodk.b-cdn.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/y/7bcc69/32.png) [@yuliab](https://forum.getodk.org/u/yuliab)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2018, 3:43pm UTC](https://forum.getodk.org/t/odkmeta-error-column-header-not-found/16976/1 "2018-12-27T15:43:29Z")

</div>

I am trying to produce an odkmeta do-file and run into the following error:  
"column header list\_name not found  
invalid listname() suboption  
invalid choices() option"

I do, however, have a list\_name column in my "choices" csv, and I don't think encoding is an issue, although I could be wrong about that. These are the files I am using: [survey.csv](https://getodk.b-cdn.net/uploads/default/original/2X/5/572bb4be6375f951bf8eecb5b14a0bc97aad702e.csv) (75.4 KB)  
, [choices.csv](https://getodk.b-cdn.net/uploads/default/original/2X/f/f98cfcabf52a21f61f8aa725561b3e7f3fe5871d.csv) (13.2 KB)  
.

I am running the code using STATA 15 (Windows):  
odkmeta using odkmetado, csv("$data\data.csv") ///  
survey("$survey\survey.csv", label(label::English)) ///  
choices("$survey\choices.csv", label(label::English)) replace

I tried specifying the listname(list\_name) option but that didn't help. Any help is appreciated - thanks very much and happy holidays!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Matthew\_White](https://getodk.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.getodk.org/matthew_white/32/1654_2.png) [@Matthew\_White](https://forum.getodk.org/u/Matthew_White)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2019, 5:58am UTC](https://forum.getodk.org/t/odkmeta-error-column-header-not-found/16976/2 "2019-01-03T05:58:45Z")

</div>

Hi @yuliab!

I took a look at `choices.csv`, and it looks like it contains a few non-ASCII characters: À, á, ã, ç, é, ê, í (perhaps others). Because of that, the file is encoded as UTF-8. (@yuliab, I think you have likely already seen this thread, but in case there are others for whom this `odkmeta` error is new, there was some discussion about it [here](https://forum.getodk.org/t/odkmeta-column-header-type-not-found/10617/4).)

When I replace the non-ASCII characters with ASCII characters (for example, replacing À with A), I'm able to run `odkmeta` successfully. Once you have made those replacements, you may also need to save the CSV file so that it is not encoded as UTF-8. In my version of Excel, I used "Save As" to change the file format from "CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (.csv)" to "Comma Separated Values (.csv)".

Hope that helps!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Logonia](https://getodk.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.getodk.org/logonia/32/9318_2.png) [@Logonia](https://forum.getodk.org/u/Logonia)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2020, 9:11am UTC](https://forum.getodk.org/t/odkmeta-error-column-header-not-found/16976/3 "2020-01-20T09:11:04Z")

</div>

Hi @Matthew_White!  
My name is Bernard Logonia from Ghana.  
I am having difficulty in creating a do file for the following forms.  
Please help me.  
First form  
[choices.csv](https://forum.getodk.org/uploads/short-url/90sHpjLdPqwcUyEjJt1xKItkclv.csv) (17.8 KB) [survey.csv](https://forum.getodk.org/uploads/short-url/pURuZi2Y97Qu1fcFKG0mfFHJUfL.csv) (60.6 KB)

Second form  
[choices.csv](https://forum.getodk.org/uploads/short-url/gHp7DxLe06hQPKXbUlOyw3J9ub8.csv) (19.6 KB) [survey.csv](https://forum.getodk.org/uploads/short-url/b11AMPFo3oKIVrxOsQN41b2Aovy.csv) (10.1 KB)

This is very urgent please help.