New in version 2.3. The so-called CSV (Comma Separated Values) format is the most common import and export format for spreadsheets and databases. There is no “CSV standard”, so the format is operationally defined by the many applications which read and write it.

Using the CSV module in Python. Microsoft Office 2003 Norwegian Getaway. What is a CSV File? We’ll use the following Python program to read and display the contents of the above CSV file.

The lack of a standard means that subtle differences often exist in the data produced and consumed by different applications. These differences can make it annoying to process CSV files from multiple sources. Still, while the delimiters and quoting characters vary, the overall format is similar enough that it is possible to write a single module which can efficiently manipulate such data, hiding the details of reading and writing the data from the programmer. The module implements classes to read and write tabular data in CSV format.