CSV Filter Options

The CSV filter accepts an option string containing five to thirteen tokens, separated by commas. Tokens 6 to 13 are optional.

Example:

Import from UTF-8, Language German, Comma separated, Text delimiter ", Quoted field as text. CSV file has columns formatted as date, number, number, number:

soffice --infilter="Text - txt - csv (StarCalc):44,34,76,1,1/5/2/1/3/1/4/1,1031,true,true" test.csv

Export to Windows-1252, Field delimiter : comma, Text delimiter : quote, Save cell contents as shown:

soffice --convert-to "Text - txt - csv (StarCalc):44,34,ANSI,1,,0,false,true,true" --outdir=/home/user test.ods

Special case of CSV files with separator defined in the first line

CSV import and export support a sep= and "sep=" field separator setting. When reading a CSV document, the separator is taken from the initial sep= or "sep=" single field, if that is the only line content.

When reading a CSV file, the quoted form is preserved as (unquoted) cell content. You see sep=| when | is the separator in the first line. In the unquoted form, the separator is discarded because it is a real field separator in the context. You see sep= in the first line.

When writing a CSV file, the existing single top left cell's content such as sep=| is adapted to the current separator with the quoted form of "sep=|" (if quotes / text delimiters aren't set empty and | is the separator) and always uses the ASCII " double quote character.

If the line containing the sep=| is not to be imported as data, remember to set the From row number in the dialogue box to 2. Note that this line will not be preserved when re-saving.

Example:

        sep=|
        "LETTER"|"ANIMAL"
        "a"|"aardvark"
        "b"|"bear"
        "c"|"cow"
    

Formatting Codes for Token 5

Character Set Codes for Token 3

Related Topics

• File Conversion Filter Names
• Starting Office Software With Parameters