Emacs: import a CSV into org-mode

emacs csv import org-mode
Paul Nathan picture Paul Nathan · Aug 6, 2009 · Viewed 18.7k times · Source

Emacs has a very nice extension by the name of org-mode.

I would like to be able to easily load CSV files into org-mode without significant grief. All I've been able to find is table-import or table-capture, which, simply put, don't work even approximately well.

Note that part of my issue is text strings with a comma within them. 1,2,3,4 is different than 1,2,"3,4".

Is there a function out there or a perl script that one could run to transform a csv file into org-mode format?

Thanks!

Answer

Don Womick picture Don Womick · Aug 7, 2009

From the org-mode manual:

C-c | Convert the active region to table. If every line contains at least one TAB character, the function assumes that the material is tab separated. If every line contains a comma, comma-separated values (CSV) are assumed. If not, lines are split at whitespace into fields. You can use a prefix argument to force a specific separator: C-u forces CSV, C-u C-u forces TAB, and a numeric argument N indicates that at least N consecutive spaces, or alternatively a TAB will be the separator. If there is no active region, this command creates an empty Org table.

So just paste the data into an org file, select it, and do C-u C-c | .

Related questions

Is there a good emacs mode for displaying and editing huge delimiter separated files?

I've been searching without finding for a while for a mode that makes editing huge tab/comma/colon-separated files easy. I've been wanting a mode that ensures that columns always line up, just like org-mode tables. I know I can …

Read More
How do I make Git use the editor of my choice for commits?

I would prefer to write my commit messages in Vim, but it is opening them in Emacs. How do I configure Git to always use Vim? Note that I want to do this globally, not just for a single project.

Read More
Differences between Emacs and Vim

Without getting into a religious argument about why one is better than the other, what are the practical differences between Emacs and Vim? I'm looking to learn one or the other, but I realize the learning curve for each is …

Read More