index.md

Comparisons with ASV, CSV, TSV, RSV

Unicode separated values (USV) is similar to these formats, plus offers more capabilities, editor-friendly markup, and standards-track syntax.

• ASCII separated values (ASV) a.k.a. DEL (Delimited ASCII)

• Comma Separated Values (CSV)

• Tab Separated Values (TSV) a.k.a. Tab Delimited Format (TDF)

• Rows of String Values (RSV)

• JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)

• Microsoft Excel (XLSX)

Summary table

Capability	USV	ASV	CSV	TSV	RSV	JSON	XLSX
Units / cells / fields	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡	✅
Records / lines / rows	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	🟡	✅
Groups / sheets / tables	✅	✅	⛔	⛔	⛔	🟡	✅
Files / folios / schemas	✅	✅	⛔	⛔	⛔	🟡	✅
Text, not binary	✅	✅	✅	✅	⛔	✅	⛔
All visible separators	✅	⛔	✅	🟡	⛔	✅	⛔
Easy for any text editor	✅	⛔	✅	✅	⛔	⛔	⛔
Separator line spacing	✅	⛔	🟡	🟡	⛔	🟡	⛔
IETF.org standards-track	✅	⛔	🟡	🟡	⛔	✅	🟡
Escaping	✅	✅	✅	⛔	⛔	🟡	🟡
End of Transmission	✅	✅	⛔	⛔	⛔	⛔	⛔
Variable units per record	✅	⛔	⛔	⛔	✅	✅	⛔
Separators are terminators	✅	⛔	⛔	⛔	✅	⛔	⛔
Unicode UTF-8 default	✅	⛔	⛔	⛔	⛔	✅	🟡

Example for ASCII Separated Values (ASV)

a\u001FB\u001F\u001Ec\u001FD\u001F\u001E

USV with symbols:

a␟b␟␞c␟d␟␞

USV with controls is identical to ASV:

a\u001FB\u001F\u001Ec\u001FD\u001F\u001E

Example for Comma Separated Values (CSV)

CSV example:

a,b
c,d

USV with symbols:

a␟b␟␞
c␟d␟␞

USV with controls:

a\u001FB\u001F\u001E
c\u001FD\u001F\u001E

Example for Tab Separated Values (TSV)

TSV example:

a       b
c       d

USV with symbols:

a␟b␟␞
c␟d␟␞

USV with controls:

a\u001FB\u001F\u001E
c\u001FD\u001F\u001E

Example for Rows of String Values (RSV)

RSV example:

a\b255b\b255\b253c\b255d\b255\b253

USV with symbols:

a␟b␟␞
c␟d␟␞

USV with controls:

a\u001FB\u001F\u001E
c\u001FD\u001F\u001E

Example for Microsoft Excel (XLSX)

XLSX example:

Sheet 1
a,b
c,d

Sheet 2
d,e
f,g

USV with symbols:

Sheet 1␟␞
a␟b␟␞
c␟d␟␞
␝
Sheet 2␟␞
e␟f␟␞
g␟h␟␞
␝

USV with controls:

Sheet 1\u001F\u001E
a\u001FB\u001F\u001E
c\u001FD\u001F\u001E
\u001D
Sheet 2\u001F\u001E
e\u001Ff\u001F\u001E
g\u001Fh\u001F\u001E
\u001D