CSV delimiter fixer — detect and convert
European exports use semicolons. Database dumps use tabs or pipes. Your import expects commas. We sniff out what the file actually uses and rewrite it to what your tool wants — comma, semicolon, tab, or pipe.
Delimiter converted
Before
Name;Age;City John;25;NYC
After
Name,Age,City John,25,NYC
Drop your CSV file here
or click to browse
The "delimiter" fix will be auto-detected.
What is this and why does it matter?
CSV files can use different separators between columns: commas, semicolons, tabs, or pipes. In Europe, semicolons are standard (because commas are used in numbers like 1.234,56). When your tool expects commas but the file uses semicolons, everything ends up crammed into one column.
CSV First Aid figures out which separator your file uses by scanning the first rows. It checks commas, semicolons, tabs, and pipes and picks the one that produces consistent columns.
Once detected, we convert the separator to whichever format your import needs. The data is untouched — only the separator changes.
How it works
- 1Drop your CSV. We detect which separator your file uses.
- 2If it's not a comma, the diagnosis card tells you what was found (e.g., 'Semicolon separator detected').
- 3Choose your target format in the download options, then Apply → Download.
FAQ
What delimiters are supported?
Comma (,), semicolon (;), tab (\t), and pipe (|). These cover 99% of real-world CSV files.
My file uses a mix of delimiters. Can it handle that?
Yes. The detector picks the most consistent delimiter. The tokenizer is tolerant of mixed delimiters within the same file — it parses based on the detected primary delimiter and flags anomalies.
Will converting delimiters break my quoted fields?
No. The writer handles quoting correctly: any field that contains the target delimiter, a newline, or a quote character is wrapped in double quotes with inner quotes escaped.
Related tools
CSV quote repair
One missing closing quote turns a single field into a multi-row monster and shifts every column after it. We find the unmatched ones, close them, and re-escape the inner ones — per RFC 4180.
Fix inconsistent CSV column counts
Header says 5 columns, some rows have 4, one row has 7 — and your import tool gives up. We pad the short rows, flag the over-long ones, and tell you exactly which line numbers to look at.
CSV Delimiter Converter
Flip a CSV between commas, semicolons, tabs, and pipes. Input delimiter is sniffed from the file. Useful when your Excel region expects one thing and the file was saved as another.