How to create a CSV file.
Question
How to create a CSV file.Answer
A comma-separated values (CSV) file is any file containing text that is
separated with a comma, but can also
be a file separated with any other character. To create a CSV is as
simple as creating any text file and can be created in any text editor,
however, is often created in a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft
Excel or Open Office Calc. Below are the steps on how to create a CSV
file using a text editor such as Notepad, Microsoft Excel, Open Office
Calc, and Google Docs.
To create a CSV file in a text editor open a new text editor program,
such as Notepad. Once open write the text data
you wish the file to contain and separate each field or
column of data with a comma and
each row with a new line.
Title1,Title2,Title3
one,two,three
example1,example2,example3
one,two,three
example1,example2,example3
As an example, if you were to create a text file with the
above data, and save it as a CSV file, each column is created by each
comma and each row is created by each new line. Therefore,
the above data if opened in a
spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel would create a table
similar to the below example.
| Title1 | Title2 | Title3 |
| one | two | three |
| example1 | example2 | example3 |
If the data you're planning to use in your CSV file already has comma's,
such as an address; it's easier to use a different
delimiter to separate each of the
values.
For example, in the below CSV file we will be creating names and
addresses for labels that will be printed and are separating each name
and address label with a tilde
character. Alternatively a better solution would be to have the address,
city, and state in their own column.
Name
Street Address
City, State ZIP Code
~Mr John Smith
123 Fake address
Salt Lake City, Utah 89110
~Mrs Jane Doe
586 Another fake
Delta, Utah 84624
~Bill White
123 N Fake Street
St Anthony, Idaho 83445
Street Address
City, State ZIP Code
~Mr John Smith
123 Fake address
Salt Lake City, Utah 89110
~Mrs Jane Doe
586 Another fake
Delta, Utah 84624
~Bill White
123 N Fake Street
St Anthony, Idaho 83445
Open Microsoft Excel and the file you wish to save as a CSV file. For
example, below is the data contained in our example Excel worksheet.
| Item | Cost | Sold | Profit |
| Keyboard | $10.00 | $16.00 | $6.00 |
| Monitor | $80.00 | $120.00 | $40.00 |
| Mouse | $5.00 | $7.00 | $2.00 |
| Total | $48.00 |
Once open, click File, choose the Save As option, and as the Save as
type: select the CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv) option. Once
saved, if you were to open the CSV file in a text editor, such as Notepad,
the CSV file should resemble the below example.
Item,Cost,Sold,Profit
Keyboard,$10.00,$16.00,$6.00
Monitor,$80.00,$120.00,$40.00
Mouse,$5.00,$7.00,$2.00
,,Total,$48.00
Keyboard,$10.00,$16.00,$6.00
Monitor,$80.00,$120.00,$40.00
Mouse,$5.00,$7.00,$2.00
,,Total,$48.00
Open Open Office Calc and the file you wish to save as a CSV file. For
example, below is the data contained in our example Calc worksheet.
| Item | Cost | Sold | Profit |
| Keyboard | $10.00 | $16.00 | $6.00 |
| Monitor | $80.00 | $120.00 | $40.00 |
| Mouse | $5.00 | $7.00 | $2.00 |
| Total | $48.00 |
Once open, click File, choose the Save As option, and as the Save as
type: select the Text CSV (.csv) (*.csv) option. Once saved,
if you were to open the CSV file in a text editor such as Notepad the
CSV file should resemble the below example.
Item,Cost,Sold,Profit
Keyboard,$10.00,$16.00,$6.00
Monitor,$80.00,$120.00,$40.00
Mouse,$5.00,$7.00,$2.00
,,Total,$48.00
Keyboard,$10.00,$16.00,$6.00
Monitor,$80.00,$120.00,$40.00
Mouse,$5.00,$7.00,$2.00
,,Total,$48.00
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