python - May I use either tab or comma as delimiter when reading from pandas csv?

Question

I have csv files. Some are comma delimited, and some are tab delimited.

df = pd.read_csv(data_file, sep='')

Is there a way to specify either tab or comma as delimiter when using pd.read_csv()? Or, is there a way to automatically detect whether the file is tab or comma delimited? If I know that, I can use different sep='' paramters when reading the file.

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65909857/may-i-use-either-tab-or-comma-as-delimiter-when-reading-from-pandas-csv

Answer 1

I'd just read the first row and see which gives you more columns:

import pandas as pd
tab = pd.read_csv(data_file, nrows=1, sep='').shape[1]
com = pd.read_csv(data_file, nrows=1, sep=',').shape[1]
if tab > com:
    df = pd.read_csv(data_file, sep='')
else:
    df = pd.read_csv(data_file, sep=',')