CSV format or Where to put commas?

Among the applied problems faced by if you are not a programmer, it is already an advanced user, import data from one application to another is not uncommon. And quite often it is necessary to import tabular data, which, in fact, was invented in CSV format. Now has developed several alternative solutions (among them the leader XML). But the creation of the CSV file in some cases remains the most convenient solution, and some – the most problematic.

Stands for the name of the format as commaseparatedvalues – comma-separated values. In Notepad the file looks like the following:

00, 01, 02, 03;

01, 15, 34, 11;

16, 27, 33, 06 (at the very end to put a sign is not required)

In an Excel spreadsheet or similar application already so:

But now we have taken the simplest case. The problems start just due to the fact that due to the very compressed representation of the data, CSV format is used to transmit large amounts of information. This files most often occur in the databases of dissimilar values: numeric, alpha, alphanumeric, spaces, etc. Often in large arrays there are mistakes, and if, for example, where there will be an extra comma inside the content of one of the fields, all the cells can move for one.

Generally, the problems that occur when you import data using the CSV file format can be divided into three categories:

1 – Correctly filling out the fields.

2-Incorrect conversion data when you save the file in CSV.

3 – Wrong format recognition program-importer.

The First case we have already partially considered. To deal with the problem, it is necessary to provide means of verification of the correctness of the input data. For example, if you need to collect a database of addresses for mailing, there are special scripts that check, does the person your e-mail in the correct format. Where there are spaces, commas and any other data that can be read incorrectly, the field content must be enclosed in quotation marks (computer “ ”).

The Second case is associated with the encoding. You need to figure out, often by experiment, what encoding will prefer the program, the importer. Widely used in Windows 1251, so if your source file will meet the text in Unicode, it will appear in the destination application as chains issues. In Excel it is possible to save in CSV format with various encoding and delimiter (other than comma is still used tab and semicolon), but it is best to create a file in Notepad++ or OpenOfficeCalc.

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The Third case-a consequence of the second. Historically, the CSV format has no standard. Many programs are perceived as CSV file formats TSV (tab separation) and SCSV (separated by semicolon), in particular because the file extension this is not reported. In this case, the data is read erroneously, and are not distributed to the cells in the correct order. The best advice that can be – to create a CSV file yourself. As already mentioned, you need to use the easy editor.

Tricks of how to tame the CSV format known to programmers. Simple enough for the user to adhere to our guidelines regarding creation of the file. The least problem occurs when the file is created specially for import into a specific application (and sometimes differently). It's easier to consider all the possible problems arising on the way of data transmission.