What is a CSV file?
CSV stands for Comma Separated Values. It is a file format commonly used to represent tabular data in a simple, readable way.
A CSV file organizes data into rows and columns, with each value separated by a delimiter, typically a comma or sometimes a semicolon. The first row usually contains headers, which define the column names and help make the data easier to understand.
Here's an example of what a CSV file looks like:
Name,LastName,Age,City
Luca,Bianchi,40,Turin
Aisha,Khan,28,Dubai
Yuki,Tanaka,35,Tokyo
Sophia,Schmidt,32,Berlin
Amara,Okafor,27,Lagos
Liam,O'Connor,38,Dublin
In this example, we have a table with four columns: Name, Last Name, Age, and City.
Each row contains information about a different person. The values for each column are separated by commas. For instance, in the first row, the name is Luca, the last name is Bianchi, the age is 40, and the city is Turin.
Useful generic things to know about CSV format
In this section, you’ll find two very important concepts about CSV files:
how to insert text or numbers that contain commas into a CSV file
how to leave fields empty
Handling commas in CSV fields: "Quotation Marks"
Imagine you need to enter a number like 1.000,54 in a CSV file. If you leave it like that, the software reading the CSV will think that 1.000 is the value for one field and 54 is the value for the next field, because it treats the comma as a separator between columns.
To avoid this problem, you should enclose the number in quotation marks:
"1.000,54"
This way, the software understands that 1.000,54 is a single value and keeps it together in one column.
Empty Fields
CSV files have some columns that are mandatory to fill, while others are optional and can be left empty. When you leave an optional column empty, you still need to insert a comma as a separator. This tells the software that the cell for the optional column is empty and that you are moving to the next column.
Here's an example of what a CSV file looks like with the "Age" column being optional:
Name,LastName,Age,City
Sophia,Schmidt,,Berlin
Yuki,Tanaka,35,Tokyo
In this example, the "Age" value is optional and was not included in the first row. However, an additional comma is added to indicate the empty "Age" field. Row 2, on the other hand, includes the "Age" value and follows the normal format.
Tools to edit a CSV file
You can edit a CSV file using different types of software, depending on your needs and preferences:
spreadsheet programs
applications like Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice Calc, or Apple Numbers allow you to open, edit, and save CSV files in a user-friendly, table-like formattext editors
simple text editors such as Notepad (Windows), TextEdit (Mac), or more advanced editors like VS Code, Sublime Text, or Notepad++ can also be used to edit CSV files directly as plain text
In the following sections we'll explain how to edit a CSV file with a Text editor or Excel.
How to edit the CryptoBooks CSV file using a Text Editor
To correctly edit the CryptoBooks CSV format for custom connections using a Text Editor, you can follow these steps:
download the CSV template file from this link. It already contains the required headers inside
open the file with the text editing software on your computer (for Mac users, it's called TextEdit, and for Windows users, it's called Notepad). Here's how the pre-filled CSV file with the header row looks
keep the header row enclosed in quotation marks ("") to prevent the software from interpreting spaces between words as column separators
press Enter on you keyboard to move the cursor to a new line
fill in the necessary values following the instructions provided in this article: Guide to Compiling the CryptoBooks CSV | CryptoBooks ENG
once you have entered all the rows you want to import, save the file
How to edit the CryptoBooks CSV file using Excel
download the CSV template file from this link. It already contains the required headers inside
open the file with Microsoft Excel. Here's how the pre-filled CSV file with the header row looks
click on column A to select the entire column
on the navigation menu, click on Data
click on Text to Columns
select Delimited and then click Next
choose Comma and click Next
click Finish
now your header row will be displayed like follows
go to cell A2 and fill in the necessary values following the instructions provided in this article: Guide to Compiling the CryptoBooks CSV | CryptoBooks ENG
once you have entered all the rows you want to import, save the file following these steps:
click on File
click on Save As
select the folder to save the file
make sure the selected file type is CSV (Comma Delimited)
click Save
🚨 Possible Issue with Excel
Sometimes, automatic changes are made that invalidate the file and prevent its uploading when creating and editing a CSV file with Excel. In those cases, the you will need to check and correct the file using a text editor software.
Here is an example of incorrect formatting due to this kind of automatic changes:
The file compiled seems corrected using Excel.
But the same file opened with a text editor software shows that some quotation marks have been mistakenly added, both in the header and in the first two rows.
In this cases you'll need to remove the mistake in the text editor.