pipeseparated

Pipeseparated, often referred to as pipe-separated values (PSV), is a plain-text data interchange format in which fields within a record are separated by the pipe character (|) and records are separated by line breaks. It is used as an alternative to CSV and TSV when the pipe character is a convenient delimiter for the data being stored or transmitted.

Format and usage: In a typical PSV file, the first line may contain header names, followed by lines of data where each field corresponds to a header. The choice of the pipe delimiter helps avoid conflicts with commas in fields and can improve readability for certain datasets. PSV is commonly used in data exports, log files, configuration data, and light-weight interchange between systems that expect a delimiter-based format.

Escaping and quoting: Because the pipe character itself is a delimiter, fields containing a pipe or line breaks are usually enclosed in double quotes, and internal quotes are escaped according to the conventions of the emitting system (for example by doubling quotes). Some implementations also support escaping with a backslash. There is no universal standard, so behavior can vary between tools.

Parsing and interoperability: PSV can be parsed with many general-purpose CSV parsers by configuring the delimiter to a pipe. Languages and tools such as Python’s csv module, pandas, awk, and various database copy utilities can handle PSV by specifying sep='|' or a similar option. File extensions are not standardized, with .psv used in some contexts and plain text or .txt also appearing.

Limitations: The lack of a formal, universally adopted PSV standard means escaping rules and tool support can vary. For complex data with embedded delimiters, alternative formats like CSV with proper escaping, JSON, or XML may be preferable.