How to Change the CSV Delimiter

The delimiter is the character that separates fields in a CSV file. While comma is the most common choice, many files use semicolons (especially European exports), tabs (TSV files), or pipes. If your import tool expects a different delimiter, you need to convert the file — here is how.

What is a CSV Delimiter?

A delimiter is the separator character between fields in each row. The three most common delimiters are: comma (,) — the standard for most English-language software; semicolon (;) — common in European CSV exports where commas are used as decimal separators; and tab (\t) — used in TSV (Tab-Separated Values) files, which tend to be more robust for data containing commas.

Why Do Delimiters Get Mixed Up?

The CSV format has no official standard for which character to use as a delimiter — different software makes different choices. Microsoft Excel, for example, uses the system locale's list separator, which is a semicolon in many European countries. This means a file exported from Excel on a German computer will use semicolons, while the same operation on a US computer produces commas.

How to Change the Delimiter with CSVCheck

Upload your CSV file to our CSV Delimiter Converter. The tool auto-detects the current delimiter in your file. Select your desired output delimiter (comma, semicolon, tab, or pipe). Click Convert and download your file. Values that contain the new delimiter are automatically wrapped in double-quotes to prevent data corruption.

Manual Methods

You can also change delimiters in Excel by opening the file using Data → From Text/CSV and specifying the delimiter, then saving as CSV. In Google Sheets, import the file and specify the separator, then export as CSV. For bulk processing or automation, command-line tools like awk or the Python csv module can convert delimiters programmatically.