Convert comma separated .CSV text files to plain tab separated text with the free Swiss File Knife for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

• Download the free Swiss File Knife Base from Sourceforge.
• Open the Windows CMD command line, Mac OS X Terminal or Linux shell.
• OS X : type mv sfk-mac-64.exe sfk and chmod +x sfk then ./sfk
• Linux: type mv sfk-linux-64.exe sfk and chmod +x sfk then ./sfk. OS X and Linux syntax may differ, check the help within the tool.

sfk csvtotab infile.csv [options]

convert csv data to plain tab separated.

default input/output format
- input fields are separated by a comma ","
- input fields can be surrounded by double quotes "
  and may contain escaped double quotes as ""
- output fields are separated by TAB characters
- surrounding quotes are stripped, and escaped
  quotes are reduced to normal quotes
- if input contains any TABs they are changed to
  a single blank character
- input fields cannot contain line breaks

options
  -tofile x     write output to file x
  -insep="x"    set input separator to character x
                e.g. ; or \t
  -outsep="x"   change output separator
  -quote="x"    change quote character, e.g. \x27
                uses single quote.
  -tabrep="x"   change tab replacement character

see also
  sfk ascii     list of ASCII codes for characters
  sfk tabtocsv  further conversion examples

examples
  sfk csvtotab in.csv -tofile out.txt
     convert to tab separated out.txt
  sfk filter in.csv -+foo +csvtotab
     convert only lines with word "foo"
  sfk csvtotab in.csv +filter "-![warning]"
     drop all lines with [warning] from output
  sfk csvtotab in.csv +view -tab 10
     view in.csv in Depeche View for convenient browse
     and search of contents, with a tab size of 10.
     Within DView press Ctrl+Tab to change tab size
     in small steps, or Ctrl+Shift+Tab for large tabs.
 

sfk csvtotab infile.csv [options]

convert csv data to plain tab separated.

default input/output format
- input fields are separated by a comma ","
- input fields can be surrounded by double 
  quotes " and may contain escaped double
  quotes as ""
- output fields are separated by TAB 
  characters
- surrounding quotes are stripped, and 
  escaped quotes are reduced to normal
  quotes
- if input contains any TABs they are 
  changed to a single blank character
- input fields cannot contain line breaks

options
  -tofile x     write output to file x
  -insep="x"    set input separator to 
                character x e.g. ; or \t
  -outsep="x"   change output separator
  -quote="x"    change quote character, e.g.
                \x27 uses single quote.
  -tabrep="x"   change tab replacement 
                character

see also
  sfk ascii     list of ASCII codes for 
                characters
  sfk tabtocsv  further conversion 
                examples


examples
  sfk csvtotab in.csv -tofile out.txt
     convert to tab separated out.txt
  sfk filter in.csv -+foo +csvtotab
     convert only lines with word "foo"
  sfk csvtotab in.csv +filter 
"-![warning]"
     drop all lines with [warning] from 
     output
  sfk csvtotab in.csv +view -tab 10
     view in.csv in Depeche View for 
     convenient browse and search of
     contents, with a tab size of 10.
     Within DView press Ctrl+Tab to change
     tab size in small steps, or
     Ctrl+Shift+Tab for large tabs.
 

read more about all sfk functions

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