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+# CSV Spec
+
+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).
+
+
+## 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.
+
+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
+this specification. And if possible we will even try to provide code snippets
+in various languages that attempts to automatically determine the delimiter
+character used in any given input CSV-like formatted file/data.
+
+
+## Roadmap
+
+1. Write up core specification rules. _[in-progress]_
+2. Create input/output test files covering all rules in the specification.
+3. Create website for [csv-spec.org](http://csv-spec.org/).
+4. Create linting tool as a NPM module, allowing easy validation of CSV
+   data both client-side in a web browser, and server side via a command line
+   tool.
+5. Create automatic delimiter character detection code snippets in various
+   programming languages which CSV parser developers can freely use to enhance
+   their libraries.
+
+
+## License
+
+(The MIT license)
+
+Copyright (c) 2014 Jim Myhrberg.
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+SOFTWARE.