What Is CSV?
Comma-separated values (CSV) files are simple text files that contain data for a database table. Each line of a CSV file makes up one entry for the database. Each field for the table is separated, as the name dictates, by a comma. CSV files have cross-platform and cross-application support. CSV files can be used to export and import between two different programs that might require quite different forms of input or output.
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History
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Computers from 1967 have shown to support comma-separated values files. The CSV file type, as a simple text-only format, was easily developed and stored. CSV files predated personal computers, but due to their compatibility, ease and multi-purpose uses, are still used by all computer platforms. CSV files are known as flat files.
Comma-Separated Values Standards
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Unlike most file formats in modern computing, a detailed set of specification standards does not exist for the CSV file type. However, when CSV files are interpreted online, the Internet Engineering Task Force defined a set of standards for the web format "text/csv."
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Rules of CSV
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CSV files store plain-text data as if it were a database table. A comma separates each column, and a new line separates each row. CSV files can be imported into spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft Excel, which will separate each value and place it in the table as desired.
Additional Rules
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If you need to use a term that has a comma in it inside the CSV file, you can use quotation marks to embed it, such as "Town, AZ." Likewise, if you need to use quotation marks, you have to use quotation marks on either side of the quote, for example ""Hi," he said."
Support
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Any text editor, such as Notepad in Microsoft Windows or TextEdit for Apple Mac OS, can open, read and edit CSV files in their plain-text form. More commonly, however, CSV files will be used by spreadsheet or database software. Modern database applications have options to set the delimiter to other symbols instead of commas.
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