CODEWITHSUNDEEP
csv
Rafe
Rafe

Reputation: 3066

Which delimiter should be used for lists of values inside a CSV file?

I have a CSV file that has lists of values for some fields. They're stored in the database as HTML "ul" elements, but I want to convert them into something more spreadsheet-friendly.

What should I use as my delimiter? I could use escaped commas, pipes, semicolons, or pretty much anything else. Is there some kind of de facto standard people use for this?

Upvotes: 3

Views: 2762

Answers (4)

dr.
dr.

Reputation: 1449

Pipes with quotes as text qualifiers have worked best for me. It makes it easier to read when you open the data file in NotePad++ too.

Upvotes: 2

Randell
Randell

Reputation: 6170

It depends largely on the values you are trying to separate. For example, if you're expecting numeric values, it would be unwise to use comma or period as your delimiter. Same goes if the values expect hashes. or pipes

Use a character that has the least possibility of being used in the content. To do this, you might want to analyze your data first so you can easily decide what delimiter to use.

Upvotes: 1

Noon Silk
Noon Silk

Reputation: 55092

Quotes around the item is for this

123, hello, "a, b, c, d", 29

Upvotes: 4

Peter Sankauskas
Peter Sankauskas

Reputation: 2972

I always liked the TAB character as a separator - works well when importing into Excel too.

Upvotes: 1

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