When importing is it possible to set the delimiter?

Question

When importing a csv file is there a way to set the delimiter. I have a csv that uses ";" as its delimiter.

I tried

 rd = import["/Users/rolfbosscha/Downloads/rsdata.csv"]

You can use ReadList which happens to be much faster than Import See for example http://mathematica.stackexchange.com/questions/35371/speeding-up-import-and-export-in-csv-format/35375#35375. With only a slight modification: change "," to ";" under RecordSeperators — RunnyKine, Nov 19 '13 at 21:14
Mathematica is case-sensitive: use Import, not import. — m_goldberg, Nov 19 '13 at 21:21

score 40 · Answer 1 · edited Nov 29 '15 at 14:01

40

This seems to work:

Import["data.csv", "table", FieldSeparators -> ";"]

Should be

Import["data.csv", "Table", "FieldSeparators" -> ";"]

See help for "Table" element (ref/format/Table), specifically Options section.

edited Nov 29 '15 at 14:01

Community

1

answered Jun 12 '14 at 15:04

Jukka Suomela

581
4
6

2

This does not work with tabs \t in Mathematica 11.0.1, Debian 8.5. – Léo Léopold Hertz 준영 Oct 28 '16 at 14:33
it works. thanks – Nam Nguyen Jan 13 '17 at 15:15
Yes, what todo with tabs? \t does not work. – a06e Sep 22 '17 at 10:14
If you have \t then your file format is "Table". Simply: Import["data.csv", "Table"] – drgrujic Feb 01 '18 at 15:08
@drgrujic wrong, with tabs, it's best to use TSV. – GenericAccountName Dec 11 '19 at 15:49
If you have an empty field ex: "1;2;3;;5", this solution will ignore it. You may use extra option "RepeatedSeparators" -> False – klimenkov Jun 18 '20 at 14:30
it works but it is much slower than importing as "CSV" (same file with comas instead of semicolons) – Valerio Jun 19 '20 at 21:05

Sjoerd C. de Vries · Answer 2 · 2013-11-19T22:30:53.393

5

I may be mistaken here, but I don't think you can switch from the standard CSV definition (commas separate values) to the one you have (commas take the role of decimal points, and semicolons are used as value separator). A workaround might be to first import as text, switch the offending characters and import that.

As a demo I use ImportString here instead of Import, but it should work almost the same for Import too.

ImportString[
  StringReplace[ 
     ImportString["1,2;2;3;4.3\n2,3;4,5;6;7", "Text"], 
     {"," -> ".", ";" -> ","}
  ], 
  "CSV"
]

{{1.2, 2, 3, 4.3}, {2.3, 4.5, 6, 7}}

Replace the inner ImportString with

Import["/Users/rolfbosscha/Downloads/rsdata.csv", "Text"]

to work with your file. Note that you need to use "Text" instead of "CSV".

edited Nov 19 '13 at 22:30

answered Nov 19 '13 at 22:21

Sjoerd C. de Vries

65,815
14
188
323

What do you think about Jukka's answer? I cannot make it to work. I think your approach can work. My deliminator is \t. – Léo Léopold Hertz 준영 Oct 28 '16 at 14:34
2

If your separator is a tab, import as TSV. – Sjoerd C. de Vries Oct 28 '16 at 14:38

When importing is it possible to set the delimiter?

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