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Definition
CSV (Comma-Separated Values) is a plain text format for tabular data where each line is a row and values within each row are separated by commas. CSV is the universal exchange format for spreadsheet data and is supported by Excel, Google Sheets, databases, and virtually all data tools.
CSV is one of the simplest and oldest data formats, predating personal computers. Each line represents a row of data, with individual values separated by commas (or sometimes semicolons, tabs, or other delimiters). The first line typically contains column headers. Despite its simplicity, CSV has no formal standard — RFC 4180 provides guidelines, but implementations vary.
CSV's strength is universality. Every spreadsheet application (Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice), every database, every programming language, and every data analysis tool can read and write CSV. This makes it the go-to format for data exchange between different systems, data export from web applications, and data migration.
CSV's limitations include: no data type information (everything is text), no support for hierarchical/nested data, inconsistent handling of special characters (commas, quotes, newlines within values), no metadata or schema, and no support for multiple sheets. For complex data structures, JSON or XML are more appropriate. For large datasets, Parquet or Arrow formats offer dramatically better performance.