delimiterseparated

Delimiter-separated values are data formats in which fields are separated by a delimiter character or string, to represent tabular data in plain text. The most common example is comma-separated values (CSV), but other delimiters include tab (TSV), semicolon, colon, pipe, and space. The choice of delimiter depends on regional conventions, existing data, and requirements for escaping embedded delimiter characters.

In a typical delimiter-separated file, records are separated by a newline, and fields within a record are separated by the chosen delimiter. Fields containing the delimiter, newline, or quote characters are often enclosed in quotes, and quotes inside a quoted field are escaped by doubling or escaping. Standards such as RFC 4180 describe CSV conventions, but there is no universal standard, leading to variations in quoting rules, line terminators, and header handling.

Common parsing considerations include handling missing fields, inconsistent row lengths, and embedded line breaks. Robust parsers support configurable delimiters, quote characters, and escape rules, and can operate in streaming mode for large files. Encoding (typically UTF-8) should be declared and preserved to avoid misinterpretation of non-ASCII data.

Delimiter-separated formats excel in simplicity and readability and are widely used for data exchange between systems and simple configuration files. They contrast with self-describing formats like JSON or XML, which encode structure more explicitly but with greater verbosity.