What is csv data

You see the data structured into tabular form - i. The end result? A beautiful table of data you can read, apply formulas, import, export and more!

This is probably what you have in mind when you think of tabular data. But you don't have to use CSV formatted data in a spreadsheet - in fact, one of the core purposes of CSV file format is that it can be used in any program you wish!

You can view it in a text editor, like this:. See those commas! Then enter the text data you want the file to contain, separating each value with a comma and each row with a new line. Save this file with the extension. You can then open the file using Microsoft Excel or another spreadsheet program.

It would create a table of data similar to the following:. In the CSV file you created, individual fields of data were separated by commas.

But what if the data itself has commas in it? If the fields of data in your CSV file contain commas, you can protect them by enclosing those data fields in double quotes ".

The commas that are part of your data are kept separate from the commas which delimit the fields themselves. For example, let's say that one of our text fields is a user-created description that allows commas in the description. Since all applications can recognize records separated by comma, import of such data files to database is done very conveniently.

Data imported from such files is arranged in cells of a spreadsheet for representation to user. CSV files can be converted to several different file formats using the applications that can open these files. It defines any file to be CSV compliant if:. It's a way to exchange structured information, like the contents of a spreadsheet, among programs that can't necessarily talk to one another directly.

As long as two programs can both open a CSV file, they can exchange data. For example, you can save contact information from Microsoft Excel as a CSV file, and import it into the address book in Microsoft Outlook. A typical CSV file looks like this, where each line contains the same sequence of data so any program which needs to read it knows what to expect:.

Despite the name, a CSV doesn't need to rely on commas as the separator between pieces of information. This separator, called a delimiter, can be a semicolon, space, or some other character, though the comma is most common. And of course, once you've imported your CSV file into any of these programs, you can then edit the data like you would with any other file. For you. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options.