While many of today’s most popular computer files were developed in recent years, there’s one tried-and-true format that has stood the test of time: CSV files.
If you’ve ever worked with this handy computer format, you’ve worked with a piece of history. The use of CSV actually predates the personal computers by over a decade: Fortran, IBM’s pioneering programming language, supported this format way back in the early 1970s!
Despite their age, CSV files continue to be a common file type today for a number of reasons. But if you don’t have much experience with them, or if you’re not sure how they work, you may not understand why they’ve stuck around for so long. Here’s a quick guide to CSV files and why they’re still so useful.
What Is a CSV File?
The term “CSV” stands for “comma-separated values,” though you might also hear variations like the more accurate “character-separated values” instead.
If you’ve ever opened a CSV file, you can tell that the moniker lives up to the format: CSV files are what’s known as “plain-text files,” or simple file types that have no or limited formatting. They house information separated by computer characters, usually commas. This information is designed to allow a computer to read the data in spreadsheet form.
CSV File Formatting
The data in a CSV file can range from simple to complex, depending on what the resulting table is designed to look like.
Often, the first line of a CSV file will contain the table’s column labels or titles. Once the titles have been established, each line underneath represents a row of data designed to fit into those titles.
Let’s say, as an example, that you have a table collecting a few pieces of information about your employees. The first line may label each column as the “Employee Name,” “Phone Number,” “ID,” and “Email Address.” The following lines would include the relevant data for each person, and the resulting product might look like this:
Employee Name, Phone Number, ID, Email Address
Robert Smith, 555-123-4567, 001, [email protected]
Emily Jones, 555-456-7890, 002, [email protected]
Sarah Brown, 555-012-3456, 003, [email protected]
If that sounds simple, that’s because it is! On a fundamental level, CSV files are to be quick and easy to access. They’re human-readable files, though they often look much better in spreadsheet form!
However, CSV files can also become complex as well, especially for spreadsheets that contain huge datasets. For larger amounts of data, cells that contain commas as part of the text, tables with line breaks, and other complications, CSV files can use other characters as separation. As a result, you may see quotation marks or semicolons as well.
Why Use a CSV File
CSV files have a simplicity that’s easy to overlook, especially when compared to more robust programs. However, these files offer a number of important benefits that make them helpful in everyday settings.
First, they work with a wide range of programs, which we’ll discuss in more detail below. However, the gist of this benefit is that you can send a CSV file to virtually anyone, and they’ll be able to access it—regardless of whether they’re on a Mac or PC. This is why you’ll find that many software programs use CSV files as their main form of output for data-based reports.
Second, they’re easy to read and edit. As human-readable files, it’s not hard to understand what’s going on in the plain-text version of a CSV file. You can change the data with ease, unlike more static file types like PDFs.
How to Open and Edit a CSV File
Because a CSV file is a plain-text file, you can open it with a wide spectrum of programs.
Almost any program that has a text editor can read a CSV file to read the plain-text data. This means you can use programs like Microsoft Word or Notepad, though the latter may have difficulty opening larger CSV files. More sophisticated programs like Notepad++ are often a better choice.
Of course, as mentioned above, CSV files are designed to appear in spreadsheet form. As a result, you may want to try opening your file with common spreadsheet-based programs like Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice Calc, or Google Sheets. These programs sort the CSV file’s data into columns, making it easier to read.
How to Convert a CSV File
What happens when you have a CSV file that you want to convert into a spreadsheet for simplicity’s sake? Or when you have a spreadsheet you want to simplify and send to someone as a CSV file?
To change the format type, all you need to do is check out our free file conversion tool. Whether you want to convert a CSV file to an XLS, XLSX, PDF, or ODS file—or vice versa—we’ve got you covered. The process is simple, and you’ll have your new file in seconds to minutes, depending on the file size.
Harness the Power of the Humble CSV
Given the benefits above, it’s not hard to see why the humble CSV has been popular for so long. Though its design is minimalistic, that simplicity allows us to share and edit CSV files with ease across programs and devices. The next time you’re working with data, consider seeing how to make a CSV work for you!
To learn more about the computer programs you use every day, check out the other helpful guides on our blog. Don’t forget to also access our conversion tool for your file conversion needs!