mirror of
https://github.com/parsecsv/csv-spec.git
synced 2026-02-19 00:46:40 +00:00
Fix some typos and improve markdown structure
This commit is contained in:
27
README.md
27
README.md
@@ -3,19 +3,22 @@
|
||||
CSV is not a file format, it is typically a loose set of guidelines of how to
|
||||
structure tabular data into a plain text string. As such there's an endless
|
||||
amount of `*.csv` files floating around which are highly incompatible with
|
||||
each other. The closest thing there is to a specification is
|
||||
[RFC 4180](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4180).
|
||||
each other. The closest thing there is to a specification is [RFC 4180][].
|
||||
|
||||
[rfc 4180]: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4180
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
## Goals
|
||||
|
||||
This project is an attempt to summarize RFC 4180 and the information in the
|
||||
[Comma-separated values (CSV)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values)
|
||||
Wikipedia article into a easy to understand format. The spec will also take
|
||||
into account that the comma (`,`) character is not the only character used as
|
||||
a field delimiter. Semi-colons (`;`), tabs (`\t`), and more are popular field
|
||||
delimiter characters. As such the specification will more accurately be
|
||||
describing a CSV-like structured data format.
|
||||
[Comma-separated values (CSV)][csv] Wikipedia article into a easy to
|
||||
understand format. The spec will also take into account that the comma (`,`)
|
||||
character is not the only character used as a field delimiter. Semi-colons
|
||||
(`;`), tabs (`\t`), and more are popular field delimiter characters. As such
|
||||
the specification will more accurately be describing a CSV-like structured
|
||||
data format.
|
||||
|
||||
[csv]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values
|
||||
|
||||
We will also provide input/output test files that CSV parser/writer software
|
||||
libraries can use to validate if they properly adhere to the rules laid out in
|
||||
@@ -40,15 +43,17 @@ character used in any given input CSV-like formatted file/data.
|
||||
## Terminology
|
||||
|
||||
- **Field** — A singular String value within a row.
|
||||
- **Row** (or **Record**) — A collection of fields.
|
||||
- **Record** (or **Row**) — A collection of fields.
|
||||
- **Column** — Fields from multiple rows at the same offset. For example the
|
||||
second column would be a list of the second field from every row.
|
||||
- **Delimiter** — The character used to separate fields withing a
|
||||
row. Commonly this will be a comma (`,`), but semi-colons (`;`) or tabs
|
||||
(`\t`) are two other popular delimiter characters.
|
||||
- **Header** — The first row is often used to contain the column names for all
|
||||
remaining rows. Header names would be used as key names during when CSV data
|
||||
is converted to JSON for example.
|
||||
remaining rows. Header names would be used as key names when CSV data is
|
||||
converted to JSON for example.
|
||||
- **Line Break** — Line breaks in CSV files should be CRLF (`\r\n`). In
|
||||
examples the `¬` character will be used to visually display line breaks.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Reference in New Issue
Block a user