TSV

Tab-separated values (TSV) is a simple, plain-text data format that uses the tab character to separate fields within a record. Each line in a TSV file represents one record, with fields appearing left to right in a fixed order. A header line may be present to name the fields.

Files typically use the .tsv extension and are encoded as UTF-8 or other standard text encodings. The mime type is often text/tab-separated-values. TSV is widely used for simple data exchange between programs such as spreadsheets and databases because it is human-readable and easy to generate programmatically.

Compared with CSV, TSV uses tabs rather than commas as separators, which can reduce conflicts with text data containing commas. It is supported by most spreadsheet applications and many data processing tools, and can be produced or consumed by languages with basic string handling.

Limitations include lack of a universal standard for quoting or escaping, so fields containing tabs or newlines may require special handling or may not be portable across all tools. TSV also offers no inherent metadata, schema, or data type information beyond what the consumer interprets.

TSV remains a common choice for quick data export/import when human readability and straightforward parsing are priorities, especially in pipelines that involve text editors and command-line tools.