TSV Input Format

The TSV input format parses tab-separated and space-separated values text files.

TSV text files, usually called "tabular" files, are generic text files containing values separated by either spaces or tabs.
This it also the format of the output of many command-line tools. For example, the output of the "netstat" tool is a series of lines, each line consisting of values separated by spaces:

Active Connections

  Proto  Local Address          Foreign Address        State
  TCP    GABRIEGI-M:epmap       GABRIEGI-M.redmond.corp.microsoft.com:0  LISTENING
  TCP    GABRIEGI-M:microsoft-ds  GABRIEGI-M.redmond.corp.microsoft.com:0  LISTENING
  TCP    GABRIEGI-M:1025        GABRIEGI-M.redmond.corp.microsoft.com:0  LISTENING
  TCP    GABRIEGI-M:1036        GABRIEGI-M.redmond.corp.microsoft.com:0  LISTENING
  TCP    GABRIEGI-M:3389        GABRIEGI-M.redmond.corp.microsoft.com:0  LISTENING
  TCP    GABRIEGI-M:5000        GABRIEGI-M.redmond.corp.microsoft.com:0  LISTENING
  TCP    GABRIEGI-M:42510       GABRIEGI-M.redmond.corp.microsoft.com:0  LISTENING
  TCP    GABRIEGI-M:netbios-ssn  GABRIEGI-M.redmond.corp.microsoft.com:0  LISTENING
  UDP    GABRIEGI-M:microsoft-ds  *:*
  UDP    GABRIEGI-M:isakmp      *:*
  UDP    GABRIEGI-M:1026        *:*
  UDP    GABRIEGI-M:1027        *:*
  UDP    GABRIEGI-M:1028        *:*
  UDP    GABRIEGI-M:ntp         *:*
  UDP    GABRIEGI-M:1900        *:*
  UDP    GABRIEGI-M:ntp         *:*
  UDP    GABRIEGI-M:netbios-ns  *:*
  UDP    GABRIEGI-M:netbios-dgm  *:*
  UDP    GABRIEGI-M:1900        *:*
  UDP    GABRIEGI-M:42508       *:*

Depending on the application, the first line in a TSV file might be a "header", containing the labels of the record fields.
The following example shows a TSV file beginning with a header:

Year	PID	Comment
2004	2956	Application started
2004		Waiting for input
2004	3104	Application started
2004	1048	Application started

Among all the parameters supported by the TSV input format, the iSeparator, nSep, and fixedSep parameters play a crucial role in providing the flexibility of the TSV input format on the format of the files being parsed.

The iSeparator parameter specifies the character used as a separator between the fields in the files being parsed.
Some text files, like the previous netstat example, use simple space characters as separator characters, while other text files, like the second example above, use tab characters.

The nSep parameter specifies how many separator characters must appear for the characters to signify a field separator.
In the netstat example above, fields are separated by at least two space characters, while a single space character is allowed to appear in the value of a field (as is the case with the "Local Address" field name).
On the other hand, in the previous tab-separated example file, fields are separated by a single tab character.

The fixedSep parameter specifies whether or not the fields in the input files are separated by a fixed number of separator characters.
In the netstat example above, fields are separated by at least two space characters, but three or more space characters still signify a single field separator.
On the other hand, in the previous tab-separated example file, fields are separated by exactly a single tab character, and the presence of two consecutive tab characters signifies an empty field.

From-Entity Syntax
Fields
Parameters
Examples

See also:

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