CVS DATA FILE FORMAT

 

The CSV file (comma-separated-values). CSV is one implementation of a delimited text file, which uses a comma to separate values.  The CSV file format is very simple and supported by almost all spreadsheets and database management systems.

 

The characteristics of these files are the following

 

The CSV (Comma-Separated Values) data files must have the following format:
 

attribute1, attribute2, ..., attributeN
value11, value12, ..., value1N
...
valueM1, valueM2, ..., valueMN

One example of valid CSV file is:

 

FirstName, LastName, Company, EmailAddress
Johnathan,Doe,"ABC Company","johndoe@abccompany.com"
Harrie,Wong,"Company Inc.","hwong@myprovider.com"
Mary,"Jo Smith","Any Corp.","mjsmith@myprovider.com"

In this example we can see the use of certain rules explained before, such as null value expressed in two consecutive commas, the use of the decimal point as a separator for real numbers and the use of double quotes to use the value of the comma simple as part of the data and not as a separator.

 

Another example of valid CSV file is:
 

OBS,CAREXPEND,DISPOSINC,DOLLARVALUE,WAGES
"1960:1",14.2,362,,270.7
"1960:2",14.1,365.9,,273.4
"1960:3",14.6,367.6,,273.9
"1960:4",13.2,369.2,,273.3
"1961:1",10.8,72.9,,273.7
"1961:2",11.7,378.4,,277.6
"1961:3",12.2,385.1,,282.2
"1961:4",13.7,393.2,,288.4