Export list seperator

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san_kan1gb
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Dec 09, 2016 8:59 am

Export list seperator

Post by san_kan1gb »

Hi,
Thanks for the great product, and hope for u the best.

i was using the Export function, and i noticed that the list separator is fixed to be ',' comma, and maybe its best to have it taken from the list separator from the windows control panel:
List Seperator.jpg
List Seperator.jpg (168.95 KiB) Viewed 4929 times
Regards.
void
Developer
Posts: 16751
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Export list seperator

Post by void »

Everything will always use ',' when exporting to CSV.

The List separator in Region settings is more for displaying separated values.
plewis
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2022 6:33 am

Re: Export list seperator

Post by plewis »

Regards,

Unfortunately, this causes problems in the Hungarian language, for example, where the comma is common in directory and filenames.
It would definitely be necessary to somehow use the usual semicolon separator in the application, because it is a simple search and cannot be solved by replacement, although I would really need it.

In Windows Regional Options, the semicolon is the separator, but Everything uses a plain comma in the CSV file, unfortunately.
Please resolve this issue as soon as possible so that the separator character can be selected in settings or set in the INI file.

Thanks to:
Lewis Parditka
void
Developer
Posts: 16751
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Export list seperator

Post by void »

The comma (,) will always be used as the value break for compatibility reasons.

Use double quotes (") to escape commas.

For example:

Code: Select all

"Name","Path","Size","Date Modified"
"A filename, with a comma.txt","C:\",9473,2022-06-08 17:23:52

Double quotes are automatically added when exporting from Everything.
Unfortunately, this causes problems in the Hungarian language, for example, where the comma is common in directory and filenames.
Could you please expand on this.
Could you please give an example.
What program is causing the issue?
plewis
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2022 6:33 am

Re: Export list seperator

Post by plewis »

Regards,

Thanks for the quick reply, legitimate, and sorry. :oops:
So:
Search for "," Replace with ";" and save.
Strangely, I didn’t notice the quotation marks next to the commas. :)
That way I can do the search and replace.
Not very elegant, but easy to solve indeed.

Thanks to:
Lewis Parditka
therube
Posts: 4977
Joined: Thu Sep 03, 2009 6:48 pm

Re: Export list seperator

Post by therube »

Explain further?

You're doing, or wanting to do what?

You're taking the exported .csv (?) & manipulating or querying it further?
But for your purposes you're wanting the comma separator to be a ; ?
plewis
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2022 6:33 am

Re: Export list seperator

Post by plewis »

Here's an example of a CSV file:
"Path","Name","Extension",Size,Date Modified
"\\trumpf-pc\TRUMPF_PDM2\FG\PANTECH\PanTech 110 evo\DXF\LV 1,5","9000-0000-0009-10 Cold hand arm tamaszto lemez (Lv1,5 - 1db).GEO","GEO",2432,2020-04-17 06:57:54

I was only able to finally solve it by entering external data from text in Excel, and then here I select that it is comma-separated.
Since e.g. notepad search and replacement is not possible because in the example above e.g. I'm looking for ", characters, and I'm replacing it with ";
Yes, but there is still a single comma between the size and date columns 2432,2020-04-17 06:57:54.
I can no longer replace this with a notepad because there is a comma (1.5) in the path and in the name columns.
Fortunately, Excel can correctly recognize the comma-separated list, and saving from here to a CSV file will include the semicolon separator, so everything will be fine.

Obviously, it would be more sufficient to specify the separator character, so Excel could even open the CSV file that Everything was exported.
void
Developer
Posts: 16751
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Export list seperator

Post by void »

I have put on my TODO list to use the OS list separator character when exporting as CSV.

Thank you for the suggestion.
NotNull
Posts: 5461
Joined: Wed May 24, 2017 9:22 pm

Re: Export list seperator

Post by NotNull »

Please don't.
CSV stands for Comma Separated Values.

Another output format should be fine, but CSV is just that: comma separated.
void
Developer
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Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Export list seperator

Post by void »

I'll make it an option and default to ,
void
Developer
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Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Export list seperator

Post by void »

It's worrying that Excel doesn't open CSV files separated with a , for some localizations.
plewis
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2022 6:33 am

Re: Export list seperator

Post by plewis »

void wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 8:59 am It's worrying that Excel doesn't open CSV files separated with a , for some localizations.
Dear viod,

So it is true, e.g. In the case of Hungarian localization, the CSV files are separated by semicolons, the comma is not a unique character separator, for reasons that are clear from my example.
Obviously, a character is suitable for this purpose that cannot be specified as a path or file name in the operating system, and the semicolon is just like that, unfortunately the comma is not.
For example, Hungarian Excel is not able to open comma-separated CSV files directly, it takes everything into one column, opens a new document separately, and then imports it into it as mentioned above.
Furthermore, it also causes problems with the FOR command in delimiters for command line processing, so I had to convert it to a semicolon, I wouldn't elaborate, but precisely because the comma as a delimiter is not unique in the line.
Stamimail
Posts: 1122
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 9:05 pm

Re: Export list seperator

Post by Stamimail »

I did not fully understand the problem in the Hungarian language, because even if there is a comma in the middle of strings (folder names and files), the string is surrounded by quotation marks.
Software that deals with csv files (should) knows how to read the csv file.
The problem may be with the simple user, who has no knowledge of regular expressions, and does not know how to do it.
I do not think it's a problem of Everything to customize csv.

I do think that Everything can allow the user when exporting, to select a type of customized file (instead of txt,csv,json,xml...) and then select a delimiter (char/s).
Another solution is to make a script/exe that when the user RightClick on the csv file and send it to this script/exe, it will convert the csv file from "," to ";".
It will help them more widely. (not only for Everything case)
I'm pretty sure there are people here with the needed knowledge who would be happy to help with that.
reitwal
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat Apr 09, 2016 9:19 am

Re: Export list seperator

Post by reitwal »

There is a possibility in Excel to import a CSV file with "," as separator even if the local settings use ";" as separator.

Under Data > Get Data > Query Options > CURRENT WORKBOOK > Regional Settings
set Locale to English (United States)
void
Developer
Posts: 16751
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Export list seperator

Post by void »

Excel defaults to TAB separated CSV files.

In Excel, use the Data to columns feature or manually import the CSV file and check comma separator.

Everything will always keep , as the default separator character.
However, I will look into adding an option to customize the delimiter character.

EFU files (which are CSV files) will always use , as the separator.
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