A CSV file is used to store tabular data. It stands for comma-separated values and is sometimes referred to as a comma-delimited file. Think of it as a single sheet in a spreadsheet.
A minimal example would be:
country,capital,population
China,Beijing,21542000
United Kingdom,London,9002488
Germany,Berlin,3677472CSV files are plain text files that have a simple structure and can be edited in many applications. However, there are drawbacks when it comes to defining file metadata.
Structure of the file
A CSV file is made up of two parts
- A header row, defining the names of each column (optional but needed in Cadence)
- One or more rows of data
The header row is optional for CSV files but is required when using CSV files in Cadence
While the file is simple enough to be created by hand, there are special cases (such as values that contain commas themselves) that are easier handled via a spreadsheet application such as Excel or Google Sheets. If you create your tabular data there, you can save each sheet to a CSV file.
When exporting spreadsheets from an application, take care that your tabular data is the only data in the CSV. Many spreadsheets come with varying information around the actual tabular data that will produce invalid CSV files