Comma-Delimited File

A comma-delimited data file is flat data file in which variables are separated by commas. This file format is useful when their variables cannot contain commas and when there is limited metadata.

Example

Age, Gender,Attitude
35 to 44,Male,Somewhat disagree
35 to 44,Female,Neither agree nor disagree
Under 18,Female,Neither agree nor disagree
60 or more,Female,Strongly agree

This file format cannot be used if variables can contain commas

If any of the variables that need to be represented in the file contain commas it makes this data file unusable, as there ceases to be a way of working out where one variable stops and another starts.

For this reason, this file format is usually not appropriate for survey data, as survey data often contains open text fields where people type in their own words and are likely to include commas.

CSV files solve this problem.

This file format is poor if there is substantial metadata

As with all flat data files, this format is poor when there are substantial amounts of metadata. For example, it is typically a poor file format for survey data. See Flat Data Files for more information about problems with the use of this file format when there are substantial metadata.

See Overview of Data File Formats for rich file formats that are better when there are substantial metadata.