CSV Delimiter Changer

Change the delimiter in CSV files from comma to tab, semicolon, pipe, or any custom character. Auto-detects the input delimiter.

From:

To:

Input CSV

Output

Why Change CSV Delimiters?

Not all CSV files use commas. European systems often use semicolons because commas serve as decimal separators in many European number formats. Tab-separated files (TSV) are preferred for pasting into spreadsheets. Pipe-delimited files are common in legacy data systems. This tool converts between any of these formats instantly.

A common scenario is receiving a CSV exported from a European application that uses semicolons, but needing to import it into a tool that expects standard comma-separated values. Or you might need to convert a comma-delimited file to tab-separated so you can paste it cleanly into Excel or Google Sheets.

Common Delimiters and Their Use Cases

Delimiter	Character	Common Use Cases
Comma	,	International standard, most tools and databases, web APIs
Tab	\t	Pasting into spreadsheets, TSV files, avoiding comma conflicts
Semicolon	;	European CSV exports, systems where comma is the decimal separator
Pipe	\|	Legacy systems, data with commas and semicolons in values
Colon	:	Some Unix config files, password/group files

How the Conversion Works

The tool parses your input CSV using the detected or specified source delimiter, correctly handling quoted fields that may contain the delimiter character inside them. It then re-serialises the data using your chosen target delimiter, adding quotes around any values that contain the new delimiter.

This means you do not lose data when converting. A value like 'New York, NY' that was quoted in a comma-separated file will be output without quotes in a tab-separated file (since it does not contain a tab character), keeping the output as clean as possible.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do European CSV files use semicolons?

In many European countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and others), the comma is used as a decimal separator in numbers. For example, one and a half is written as 1,5 rather than 1.5. Using a comma as both a decimal separator and a field delimiter would be ambiguous, so European systems default to semicolons for CSV exports.

Will changing the delimiter break quoted fields?

No. The tool fully parses the CSV before converting, so quoted fields are handled correctly. If a value contains the new delimiter character, it will be wrapped in double quotes in the output to prevent parsing issues.

Can I convert a tab-separated file to comma-separated?

Yes. Select Tab as the source delimiter and Comma as the target delimiter. The tool also auto-detects the source delimiter in most cases, so you may only need to specify the target format.

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