CSV <3 Numerics Format

CSV (Line-by-Line) Records with Auto-Converted Numerics (Float Numbers) Encoding Rules - A Modern (Simple) Tabular Data Format incl. Numbers, Comments and More

"Classic" Comma-Separated Values (CSV) - Strings, String, Strings. Always. Period.

Let's read:

1,2,3
"4","5","6"

What do you expect? In the "classic" vanilla format the comma-separated values once read in / parsed always are a list of string values. Period.

[["1", "2", "3"],
 ["4", "5", "6"]]

What about Numbers (and Strings Together)? - How? Possible?

Guess, what? There's a popular comma-separated values (CSV) convention / variant / dialect that now has an official specification:

Rule 1: Use "un-quoted" values for float numbers e.g. 1,2,3 or 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 etc.

Rule 2: Use quoted values for "non-numeric" strings e.g. "4", "5", "6" or "Hello, World!" etc.

Example:

1,2,3
"4","5","6"

returns / maps to

[[1.0, 2.0, 3.0],
 ["4", "5", "6"]]

and now has an official name. Let's call it:

CSV <3 Numerics

What about Not A Number (NaN)?

A CSV <3 Numerics reader / parser lets you configure a list of values that get auto-converted to NaN, that is, Not A Number. Example:

1,2,NAN,#NAN

with the nan option ['NAN', '#NAN'] returns / maps to:

[[1.0, 2.0, NaN, NaN]]

Note: The Not a Number (NaN) values are "un-quoted" values (like numbers) in the comma-separated values (CSV) format.

What about Comments and Blank Lines and Leading and Trailings (White)spaces?

Yes, in CSV <3 Numberics you can use comments (starting with #) and blank lines and leading and trailing (white)spaces - they all will get skipped and trimmed automatically. Example:

# CSV <3 Numerics

 1  ,   2   ,   3
"4" ,  "5"  ,  "6"

returns / maps to

[[1.0, 2.0, 3.0],
 ["4", "5", "6"]]

Note: (White)spaces inside quotes will NOT get trimmed:

  " 4 " ,  " 5 "   ," 6 "

returns / maps to

[[" 4 ", " 5 ", " 6 "]]

What about More Types? Nulls, Booleans, Dates, Times, Arrays, Structs, and so on?

See alternative CSV formats that include specified encoding rules for more types:

JSON

• CSV <3 JSON Format, see https://github.com/csvspecs/csv-json
  • includes Nulls, Booleans, Arrays, Structs, and more
  • does NOT include Dates

YAML

• CSV <3 YAML Format, see https://github.com/csvspecs/csv-yaml
  • includes Nulls, Booleans, Dates, Arrays, Structs, and more

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and Answers

Q: What's the recommended file type extension for CSV <3 Numerics files?

The recommended file format for CSV <3 Numerics files is .csv :-) or use .num.csv (to highlight the fact of the numerics encoding rules).

License

The CSV <3 Numerics format is dedicated to the public domain.

Request for Comments (RFC)

Please post your comments to the wwwmake forum. Thanks!