Fix some typos and improve markdown structure

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2015-04-01 20:26:46 +01:00
parent e589b62e7c
commit 02a4bcbaa6

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@@ -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.