DataToolsLab
CSV Tools

CSV Delimiter Detector

Auto-detect CSV delimiter (comma, semicolon, tab, pipe).

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What is Delimiter Detector?

Analyzes a sample of CSV text and determines which delimiter is most likely in use, showing a preview of the parsed rows.

How it works

Samples the first few lines and tests each candidate delimiter (comma, semicolon, tab, pipe). The delimiter producing the most consistent column counts across lines wins.

  1. Paste CSV. Paste or upload CSV text with unknown delimiter.
  2. Read result. The detected delimiter is shown with a preview of the parsed data.

Examples

European CSV

Detects semicolon delimiter in files exported from European Excel configurations.

Common mistakes

Ambiguous files

Very simple data (one column, no delimiters) may not have enough signal for accurate detection.

Alternatives

CSV to TSV

For converting between delimiters once detected.

Frequently asked questions

How accurate is the detection?

Very accurate for files with 2+ columns and 5+ rows. Simple one-column files may be ambiguous.

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