Text to CSV converter
Convert tab-separated, pipe-delimited or any text into properly formatted CSV. Quoting handled automatically.
The history of the CSV format
Comma-separated values are older than almost everything else in computing still in daily use — IBM's Fortran compiler supported comma-delimited input in 1972, back when data arrived on punched cards. Remarkably, the format ran for over three decades on convention alone: RFC 4180, the document that finally standardized CSV's quoting rules, was not published until 2005. That informality is both CSV's weakness (every application had its own dialect) and its strength — it is plain text, readable by humans and every program ever written, which is why it remains the lingua franca of data exchange half a century on.
Why delimiters differ between systems
Not all "CSV" actually uses commas. Spreadsheets copy cells to the clipboard as tab-separated text. Many database and ERP exports use the pipe character (|) precisely because real-world data is full of commas. And in much of Europe, Excel saves "CSV" with semicolons — because those locales use the comma as the decimal separator in numbers, so 3,14 would otherwise split into two fields. This converter accepts all of these as input (plus any custom character) and produces standard comma-separated output with correct quoting.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert text to CSV?
Paste your delimited text into the input panel and pick the character that currently separates your columns — Tab, Pipe, Semicolon, Space or a custom character. The CSV output appears instantly with quoting applied wherever the data needs it, so fields containing commas survive intact. Copy the result to the clipboard or click Download CSV to save a file that opens directly in any spreadsheet application.
How do I convert tab-separated text to CSV?
Select Tab as the input delimiter and paste — that covers the single most common case, because copying any range of cells from Excel or Google Sheets puts tab-separated text on your clipboard. The tab characters are invisible, which is why pasted spreadsheet data looks vaguely aligned but breaks when fed to tools expecting commas. One paste here and the invisible tabs become explicit, correctly quoted commas.
Does the tool handle commas inside field values?
Yes — this is the part naive converters get wrong. Following RFC 4180, any field containing the separator, a double quote or a newline is wrapped in double quotes, and quote characters inside a field are escaped by doubling them ("Widget ""Pro""" for a field containing quotes). A value like Portland, OR therefore stays one column instead of splitting into two. Enable Quote all fields if a legacy system on the receiving end insists on quotes around everything.
Can I convert pipe-delimited or semicolon-delimited text to CSV?
Yes. Select Pipe for the |-separated exports common from databases and ERP systems, or Semicolon for files produced by European spreadsheet locales, and the tool splits on that character and reassembles standard CSV. For anything unusual — a caret, a tilde, a fixed unusual character from a legacy feed — type it into the Custom field and the conversion works the same way.
Can I download the CSV output?
Yes. Download CSV saves the result as a .csv file generated entirely in your browser — the data never touches a server. The file opens directly in Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice Calc or Numbers, and imports cleanly into databases and analytics tools, since the output follows the RFC 4180 conventions those programs expect. For quick pastes into an email or script, the Copy button grabs the same output without creating a file.