Convert Basic CSV to TSV

Basic CSV to TSV Conversion

Converting CSV to TSV is the reverse operation: replacing comma delimiters with tab characters. TSV is often preferred in scenarios where data needs to be pasted into spreadsheet applications, displayed in monospace text, or processed by Unix command-line tools.

Example CSV Input

Product,Price,Stock
Widget,19.99,150
Gadget,49.99,75
Doohickey,9.99,300

Generated TSV Output

Product	Price	Stock
Widget	19.99	150
Gadget	49.99	75
Doohickey	9.99	300

Why Choose TSV Over CSV?

TSV has several advantages in certain workflows:

1. No quoting ambiguity: Tab characters rarely appear in data, so fields almost never need quoting
2. Easy copy-paste: TSV data can be pasted directly into spreadsheet cells in Excel or Google Sheets
3. Unix tool friendly: Tools like cut, awk, and sort handle tab-delimited data natively
4. Human readable: In monospace fonts, tabs align data into clean columns

Handling Quoted CSV Fields

When converting CSV to TSV, any quoted fields in the CSV input are unquoted and the delimiters are replaced. If a field value itself contains a tab character (rare but possible), it will be quoted in the TSV output.

Trimming and Whitespace

The converter preserves whitespace within fields exactly as it appears. Leading and trailing spaces in field values are maintained, not trimmed.