excel - How to Convert semicolon delimited file to csv

Question

How to change delimiter semicolon to comma of a file in google sheets or other way? I have already tried text to column feature but my file is too large around 10 MB so it doesn't work.

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65837526/how-to-convert-semicolon-delimited-file-to-csv

Answer 1

I have been through that path quite a few times, since business logic likes to use Excel, and software likes CSV.

Excel, and probably Google Sheets etc, are a pain to use for CSV. Especially Excel because it tries to be "friendly" for you, so it typically exports with separators determined by the Windows Locale (ex: ";" or "," ) - and excel usually shifts between quotes and no quotes.

If you HAVE the text file, and wish to IMPORT into excel, find the combination of separators that suits your language variant, using a test file. To convert the big text file, a tool like AWK is simple and awesome.

To EXPORT from Excel, I would again just go with whatever Excel wants to do, then adapt the file after using AWK or similar. Easier for me than trying to find settings for separator and quoting.

There is an article here that I find helpful.

PS: I should mention that in most of European region, CSV IS semicolon by default.