About the Delimited Text Extractor
Pull specific columns out of delimited text such as CSV, TSV, pipe-separated or custom. Choose the columns and the output delimiter.
Key features
- Extract columns from CSV, TSV, pipe, semicolon or space-delimited text
- Pick columns by number: 2,4 or ranges like 1-3
- Choose any output delimiter (\t for tab)
- Rows with missing columns produce empty values
- Works on large pastes instantly
- Runs in your browser
Pull specific columns out of delimited text
Exports from databases, spreadsheets, logs and command-line tools often come as delimited text: comma-separated, tab-separated, pipe-separated or semicolon-separated. When you need only a few of the columns, opening a spreadsheet is overkill. The Delimited Text Extractor keeps the columns you want and drops the rest.
Example
Input (comma-delimited):
id,name,email,city
1,Ada,ada@example.com,London
2,Alan,alan@example.com,Manchester
Columns 2,3:
name,email
Ada,ada@example.com
Alan,alan@example.com
Column selection syntax
| You type | Columns returned |
|---|---|
2 | Column 2 only |
1,3 | Columns 1 and 3 |
2-4 | Columns 2, 3 and 4 |
4,1 | Column 4, then column 1 (reordered) |
1-2,5 | Columns 1, 2 and 5 |
Common jobs
- Email lists: pull the email column from a CRM export.
- Log analysis: extract the timestamp and status fields from pipe-delimited logs.
- Re-delimiting: convert semicolon CSV (European Excel) to comma or tab output.
- Preparing imports: keep only the fields another system accepts.
Command-line equivalent
cut -d',' -f2,3 data.csv
The extractor gives you the same result without a terminal, and also lets you reorder columns, which cut can't.
Related tools
Turn a column into a quoted list with the String Builder, or remove duplicates with Remove Duplicate Lines. For proper CSV parsing, try Excel to JSON.
How to use the Delimited Text Extractor
- Type or paste your text into the input box.
- Choose the options you want.
- The result updates instantly as you type.
- Copy the output or download it as a .txt file.