csvfomitter

csvfomitter is a software tool designed to transform and normalize CSV data into a consistent, portable format. It is intended for data preparation tasks such as data integration, ETL workflows, and data cleaning. The project aims to support standard CSV conventions while allowing explicit configuration of delimiters, quoting, and line endings.

Key features include flexible delimiter and quote handling, normalization of line endings to LF or CRLF, and options to trim or preserve whitespace. It provides proper escaping for embedded quotes and configurable quoting rules, such as quoting all fields or only when necessary. It can enforce consistent field counts, handle missing values, and offer optional column reordering or selection. Additional capabilities include optional row sorting and streaming input/output to support large files without loading entire datasets into memory.

Usage typically involves running csvfomitter as a command-line utility that reads CSV from a file or standard input and writes to a file or standard output. Common options cover --delimiter, --quote, --line-ending, --quote-all, --trim-fields, --header, --select, and --sort. The project also provides library bindings for languages such as Python, JavaScript, and Go, enabling integration into data pipelines and applications.

Design and implementation emphasize deterministic formatting, cross-platform compatibility, and a low memory footprint for large datasets. The tool prioritizes streaming parsers and writers, along with a comprehensive test suite and example configurations to ensure predictable results across diverse inputs.

Status and availability: csvfomitter is presented here as a conceptual, illustrative project intended to describe CSV formatting tooling. In practice, similar functionality is provided by established tools and libraries, though csvfomitter focuses specifically on formatting and standardization rather than analysis.