Comma-separated values

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**Comma-separated values** <tr><th style="white-space: nowrap;">File extension:</th><td>`.csv`</td></tr><tr><th style="white-space: nowrap;">MIME type:</th><td>`text/csv text/comma-separated-values (deprecated)`</td></tr>

The comma-separated values (or CSV) file format is a delimited data format that has fields separated by the comma character and records separated by newlines. Fields that contain a comma, newline, or double quote character, or which start or end with whitespace that is to be preserved, must be enclosed in double quotes. However, if a line contains a single entry which is the empty string, it may be enclosed in double quotes. If a field's value contains a double quote character it is escaped by placing another double quote character next to it. The CSV file format does not require a specific character encoding, byte order, or line terminator format.

CSV is one implementation of the Delimiter-separated values file format, which can use any character as the delimiter. Many applications in fact allow .csv-named files to use any delimiter character. However CSV differs from other delimiter separated file formats in using a " (double quote) character around fields that contain reserved characters (such as commas or newlines). Most other delimiter formats either use an escape character such as a backslash, or have no support for reserved characters.

1 Specification
2 Example
3 Application support
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Specification

While no formal specification for CSV exists, RFC 4180 describes a common format and establishes "text/csv" as the MIME type registered with the IANA.

Many informal documents exist that describe the CSV format. How To: The Comma Separated Value (CSV) File Format provides an overview of the CSV format in the most widely used applications and explains how it can best be used and supported.

[edit] Example

1997	Ford	E350	ac, abs, moon	3000.00
1999	Chevy	Venture "Extended Edition"		4900.00
1996	Jeep	Grand Cherokee	MUST SELL! air, moon roof, loaded	4799.00

The above table of data may be represented in CSV format as follows:

1997,Ford,E350,"ac, abs, moon",3000.00
1999,Chevy,"Venture ""Extended Edition""",,4900.00
1996,Jeep,Grand Cherokee,"MUST SELL!
air, moon roof, loaded",4799.00

[edit] Application support

Main article: CSV application support

The CSV file format is a very simple data file format that is supported by almost all spreadsheet software applications. Many database management systems and programming languages also support the reading and writing of CSV files.