Delimited Text Extractor

How to use the Delimited Text Extractor

Paste your delimited data, one record per line.

Enter the input delimiter, for example , or |, or \t for tab.

List the columns to keep, such as 2, 1,3 or 2-4.

Choose the output delimiter and copy the extracted columns.

Extract columns with the delimited text extractor

The delimited text extractor pulls selected columns out of CSV, TSV, pipe-separated or any other delimited text. You pick columns by number, the tool splits every line on your delimiter, and it writes just those fields back out. It works like the Unix cut command, but it understands quoted CSV fields.

Example

id,name,email,city
1,Ada Lovelace,ada@example.com,London
2,"Hopper, Grace",grace@example.com,New York
3,Alan Turing,alan@example.com,Wilmslow

Columns 2,4 with a tab as output delimiter:
name            city
Ada Lovelace    London
Hopper, Grace   New York
Alan Turing     Wilmslow

Row 2 shows why quote handling matters. A naive split on commas would cut "Hopper, Grace" in two and shift every later column. Here the quoted field stays whole and the quotes are removed.

Choosing columns

Single column – 2. Numbering starts at 1, so the first column is 1.
List – 1,3 keeps columns 1 and 3.
Range – 2-4 keeps columns 2, 3 and 4. Lists and ranges can be combined: 1,3-5.
Reordering – columns come out in the order you type them, so 3,1 swaps them.

A row that has fewer fields than requested gives empty values for the missing columns. Blank lines are skipped, and the header row is treated like any other line.

Delimiters

The input delimiter can be any character or string: a comma, semicolon, pipe or even a multi-character marker such as ::. Enter \t for tab-separated data. The output delimiter is independent, so you can read CSV and write TSV in the same step.

How quoted fields are read

A field that starts with a double quote may contain the delimiter.
Two double quotes inside a quoted field stand for one: "say ""hi""" becomes say "hi".
The quote must come immediately after the delimiter. In a, "b,c" the space before the quote makes it ordinary text.
Spaces around each extracted value are trimmed.

Limitations

Records are read line by line, so a quoted field that contains a line break is not supported. Values are also written without re-quoting. If an extracted value contains your output delimiter, as "Hopper, Grace" does with a comma, pick a tab or pipe for the output instead. For whole-file conversions use CSV to TSV or CSV to JSON, and to inspect a file as a table use the CSV viewer.

Privacy

The processing runs entirely in your browser. The text you enter is not uploaded to a server.

Frequently asked questions

How do I extract a single column from a CSV file?

Paste the CSV, keep the comma as the delimiter and enter the column number, for example 2 for the second column. Each line of the output is that column's value for one row.

Can I extract several columns at once?

Yes. Use a list such as 1,3 or a range such as 2-4, or combine them. The columns are output in the order you list them.

Does it handle commas inside quoted fields?

Yes. A field wrapped in double quotes can contain the delimiter, and doubled quotes inside it become a single quote. Quoted fields that span several lines are not supported.

How do I extract columns from tab-separated data?

Enter \t as the input delimiter. You can use \t as the output delimiter too, or switch to a comma or pipe to change the format.

Why are some output values empty?

That row has fewer fields than the column number you asked for, or the field is genuinely empty. Check the delimiter and whether some rows contain unquoted delimiters that shift the columns.