Comma-separated values
| Comma-separated values | |
|---|---|
| Filename extension | .csv |
| Internet media type | text/csv |
| Uniform Type Identifier (UTI) | public.comma-separated-values-text |
| UTI conformation | public.delimited-values-text |
| Type of format | multi-platform, serial data streams |
| Container for | database information organized as field separated lists |
| Standard | RFC 4180 |
Comma-separated values (CSV) is a plain text data format for storing tabular data where the fields (values) of a record are separated by a comma and each record is a line (i.e. newline separated). CSV is commonly-used in software that generally deals with tabular data such as a database or a spreadsheet. Benefits cited for using CSV include simplicity of use and human readability. CSV is a form of delimiter-separated values. A CSV file is a file that contains CSV-formatted data.
CSV is not limited to a particular character encoding. It works just as well with Unicode (i.e. UTF-8 or UTF-16) as with ASCII – although particular programs may have limitations. Unlike many proprietary data formats, CSV data normally survives naïve translation from one character set to another. CSV does not, however, provide a way to indicate the character encoding, so that must be communicated separately.