What are CSV file formats?

Answer 1

The comma-separated values (CSV) file format is a set of file formats used to store tabular data in which numbers and text are stored in plain textual form that can be read in a text editor. Lines in the text file represent rows of a table, and commas in a line separate what are fields in the tables row. Different implementations of CSV arise as the format is modified to handle richer table content such as allowing a different field separator character (necessary if numeric fields are written with a comma instead of a decimal point) or extensions to allow numbers, the separator character, or newline characters in text fields.

Answer 2

CSV stands for Comma Separated Variable. It is a basic text file, but the commas help to structure it to be read by other applications like spreadsheets and databases. These applications use the commas as the breakpoints to separate the data into new cells on a spreadsheet or new fields on a database. Each new row for a spreadsheet or record for a database would be on a new line in the CSV file. For example you could have a CSV file in this format:

John, 23, Plumber, Married
Paul, 38, Accountant, Single
Mary, 28, Nurse, Single
Janet, 42, Office Manager, Married

If it was opened into a spreadsheet, it would put John in one cell, 23 in the next, Plumber in the next and Married in the next, all on one row. Paul would go into the first cell on the next row, 38 into the second cell and so on. So all the details would end up in four rows, with data in four cells on those rows.

If it was opened into a database that had fields set up for Name, Age, Occupation and Marital Status, it would take each piece of data and put them into the four fields for each line and have four records in total.

CSV files can be useful for transferring files from one application to another. So you might have that data in a spreadsheet, save it as a CSV and then import into a database, or do it the other way around. CSV can be recognised by many applications, so it is useful for transferring structured data between them, if they are unable to work directly with each other. CSV acts as a neutral format that both can understand.

Answer 3

A CSV file is a Comma (or Character) Separated Values. This type of file is very commonly used for data such as the address book in Outlook. This takes each piece of data such as the name, address, phone number and email address for example and separates it by line breaks allowing you to easily import it into other applications that uses an address book