kommaerotettu

Kommaerotettu is a Swedish term that translates to "comma-separated" in English. It refers to a common method of data formatting where values are separated by commas within a string of text. This format is widely used in various contexts, including data exchange, file storage, and programming.

The primary purpose of the comma-separated format is to delineate individual data elements, making them easily distinguishable and processable by software. For example, a list of names such as "Alice,Bob,Charlie" would be understood as three distinct names, each separated by a comma. This simplicity makes it a popular choice for exporting data from databases or spreadsheets into formats that can be readily imported into other applications.

In computing, comma-separated values are often stored in files with the ".csv" extension, commonly known as CSV files. These files are plain text and can be opened and edited with virtually any text editor, although specialized spreadsheet software is better suited for managing and visualizing the data. The comma acts as a delimiter, allowing programs to parse the file and understand the structure of the data.

While commas are the most common delimiter, other characters like semicolons or tabs are also used, leading to variations such as semicolon-separated values or tab-separated values. However, "kommaerotettu" specifically refers to the comma as the separator. The interpretation of which character is used as a delimiter can sometimes depend on regional settings, particularly in spreadsheet software, where regional conventions might favor semicolons over commas for decimal separation. Despite these variations, the concept of using a specific character to separate data elements remains consistent.