CSV

CSV Delimiter Converter

Rewrites a delimited file with a different separator, re-quoting fields as needed.

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How to use this tool

  1. Paste the delimited text.
  2. Choose the delimiter you want in the output.
  3. Convert, then download the rewritten file.

What csv delimiter converter does

Delimiter mismatches are a standing annoyance in any pipeline that crosses locales. European Excel installations write semicolons because the comma is the decimal separator, database exports often prefer tabs, and older systems use the pipe because it almost never appears in the data. Converting between them is not a find and replace: the quoting has to change too.

This tool parses the file with its original delimiter and writes it out with the new one, which means a field that needed quotes before may not need them now, and a field that was safe before may need quoting now. The input delimiter is detected automatically from the first line, so in most cases you only have to choose what you want out.

Frequently asked questions

Because quoting has to change too. A value containing the new delimiter needs quotes it did not need before, and a find-and-replace will silently split that row into extra fields.

By counting candidate delimiters outside quotes on the first line and taking the most frequent. You can override it if the header line is unusual.

In locales where the comma is the decimal separator, Excel writes semicolons instead so numbers stay unambiguous. Converting to commas is usually needed before loading elsewhere.