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The csvtotsv( function converts comma separated text into tab separated text.

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Parameters

This function has one parameter:

commatext – text containing comma separated values.

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Description

This function converts comma separated text into a tab separated text array. For example, suppose you have a text file named Directory.csv that contains data like this:

"Adams, Dorothy",555-3000,dadams@gmail.com
"Franklin, Mark",555-4822,mfranklin@hotmail.com
"Smith, John",555-1212,jsmith@yahoo.com
"Wilson, Judy",555-9324,jwilson@acme.net

This data can be read into a variable and converted to tab separated format:

local phoneNumbers
phoneNumbers=csvtotsv(fileload("Directory.csv"))

The phoneNumbers variable now contains the same data, but separated by tabs instead of commas. However, commas inside quotes have not been converted into tabs.

Adams, Dorothy ▸ 555-3000 ▸ dadams@gmail.com
Franklin, Mark ▸ 555-4822 ▸ mfranklin@hotmail.com
Smith, John ▸ 555-1212 ▸ jsmith@yahoo.com
Wilson, Judy ▸ 555-9324 ▸ jwilson@acme.net

The tab separated format, which doesn’t require quotes for commas, is much simpler to work with if you need to further process or display the data.

NOTE: Though usually this function takes input data with a comma character in between each exported field, a semicolon (;) is used instead if the System Preferences Language & Region panel specifies that the numeric decimal point character is set to a comma (as it is for many European countries) instead of a period. For example, in the United States this function will expect a comma between each imported field, while in France it will expect a semicolon (;). You can change this setting in the System Preferences Language & Region panel and Panorama will immediately change the import separator character – you don’t have to quit and relaunch Panorama.

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See Also

• arrayfilter( -- processes each element of a text array or a data array with a formula (see Text Arrays and Data Arrays).
• Import Database -- importing another database into the current database.
• import( -- returns a line or element of imported data. This function works in conjunction with repetitive operations like importtext, arrayfilter(, characterfilter( etc.
• importcell( -- returns one cell of imported data.
• importdatabase -- imports data from another database into the current database.
• importjson -- imports a JSON array into the current database.
• importjsonline -- imports a JSON record into the current record.
• importline -- imports a line of text into the current record.
• importrawdata -- imports raw binary data into an existing database.
• importtext -- imports text into an existing database.
• newdatabasewithtextfieldnames -- creates a new database from a text file. The text file must contain the field names in the first line.
• newdatabasewithtextfile -- creates a new database from a plain text file. The fields will be named A, B, C, etc.
• partialdatabaseupdate -- updates one or more components of an existing database.
• seq( -- returns sequential numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.).
• Text Import -- importing text into an existing database.
• tsvtocsv( -- converts tab separated text into comma separated text.
• tsvtojson( -- converts tab separated text into JSON formatted text.

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History

Version	Status	Notes
10.2	Updated	Import separator character is now a semicolon (instead of a comma) if the system decimal point is a comma instead of a period.
10.0	New	New in this version.