CSV with comma or semicolon? - csv

Question

How is a CSV file built in general? With commas or semicolons?
Any advice on which one to use?

Answer 1

In Windows it is dependent on the "Regional and Language Options" customize screen where you find a List separator. This is the char Windows applications expect to be the CSV separator.
Of course this only has effect in Windows applications, for example Excel will not automatically split data into columns if the file is not using the above mentioned separator. All applications that use Windows regional settings will have this behavior.
If you are writing a program for Windows that will require importing the CSV in other applications and you know that the list separator set for your target machines is ,, then go for it, otherwise I prefer ; since it causes less problems with decimal points, digit grouping and does not appear in much text.

Answer 2

CSV is a standard format, outlined in RFC 4180 (in 2005), so there IS no lack of a standard. https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4180.txt
And even before that, the C in CSV has always stood for Comma, not for semiColon :(
It's a pity Microsoft keeps ignoring that and is still sticking to the monstrosity they turned it into decades ago (yes, I admit, that was before the RFC was created).
One record per line, unless a newline occurs within quoted text (see below).
COMMA as column separator. Never a semicolon.
PERIOD as decimal point in numbers. Never a comma.
Text containing commas, periods and/or newlines enclosed in "double quotation marks".
Only if text is enclosed in double quotation marks, such quotations marks in the text escaped by doubling. These examples represent the same three fields:
1,"this text contains ""quotation marks""",3
1,this text contains "quotation marks",3
The standard does not cover date and time values, personally I try to stick to ISO 8601 format to avoid day/month/year -- month/day/year confusion.

Answer 3

I'd say stick to comma as it's widely recognized and understood. Be sure to quote your values and escape your quotes though.
ID,NAME,AGE
"23434","Norris, Chuck","24"
"34343","Bond, James ""master""","57"

Answer 4

Also relevant, but specially to excel, look at this answer and this other one that suggests, inserting a line at the beginning of the CSV with
"sep=,"
To inform excel which separator to expect

Answer 5

1.> Change File format to .CSV (semicolon delimited)
To achieve the desired result we need to temporary change the delimiter setting in the Excel Options:
Move to File -> Options -> Advanced -> Editing Section
Uncheck the “Use system separators” setting and put a comma in the “Decimal Separator” field.
Now save the file in the .CSV format and it will be saved in the semicolon delimited format.

Answer 6

Initially it was to be a comma, however as the comma is often used as a decimal point it wouldnt be such good separator, hence others like the semicolon, mostly country dependant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values#Lack_of_a_standard

Answer 7

CSV is a Comma Seperated File. Generally the delimiter is a comma, but I have seen many other characters used as delimiters. They are just not as frequently used.
As for advising you on what to use, we need to know your application. Is the file specific to your application/program, or does this need to work with other programs?

Answer 8

To change comma to semicolon as the default Excel separator for CSV - go to Region -> Additional Settings -> Numbers tab -> List separator
and type ; instead of the default ,

Answer 9

Well to just to have some saying about semicolon. In lot of country, comma is what use for decimal not period. Mostly EU colonies, which consist of half of the world, another half follow UK standard (how the hell UK so big O_O) so in turn make using comma for database that include number create much of the headache because Excel refuse to recognize it as delimiter.
Like wise in my country, Viet Nam, follow France's standard, our partner HongKong use UK standard so comma make CSV unusable, and we use \t or ; instead for international use, but it still not "standard" per the document of CSV.

Answer 10

best way will be to save it in a text file with csv extension:
Sub ExportToCSV()
Dim i, j As Integer
Dim Name As String
Dim pathfile As String
Dim fs As Object
Dim stream As Object
Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
On Error GoTo fileexists
i = 15
Name = Format(Now(), "ddmmyyHHmmss")
pathfile = "D:\1\" & Name & ".csv"
Set stream = fs.CreateTextFile(pathfile, False, True)
fileexists:
If Err.Number = 58 Then
MsgBox "File already Exists"
'Your code here
Return
End If
On Error GoTo 0
j = 1
Do Until IsEmpty(ThisWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Cells(i, 1).Value)
stream.WriteLine (ThisWorkbook.Worksheets(1).Cells(i, 1).Value & ";" & Replace(ThisWorkbook.Worksheets(1).Cells(i, 6).Value, ".", ","))
j = j + 1
i = i + 1
Loop
stream.Close
End Sub