A delimiter is a character or sequence that separates adjacent data elements in structured text. In a CSV file, commas divide each record into fields, while newline characters end records. section 10.2
Separating order data
A simple order record can place a customer name, address, ZIP code, product name, and quantity on one line. An application reads the line and splits it at each comma to recover the individual text fields. The first line can use the same delimiter to label those fields with column names. section 10.2
Use delimiters with these practical considerations:
- Treat each CSV line as a record and each comma-separated element as a text field. section 10.2
- Remember that delimiters structure text but do not preserve data types; applications must interpret the resulting fields. section 10.2
Inspect the CSV layout to see how delimiters divide customer, address, product, and quantity data across records. section 10.2
