csv generic format rules

Only ASCII 7-bit format is accepted in the CSV file. Unicode characters are not permitted.

This table describes some generic csv Comma Separated Values. A file format for data using commas as delimiters. formatting rules.

Table 26 generic csv formatting rules

Description

Explanation

Currency

Currencies do not have a $ sign, e.g.117.05 or 180

Currency is in Australian dollars

Date & time

The recommended date & time format is one of the following, in Market Time ( as appropriate for the application):

  • Timestamp: YYYY/MM/DD HH24:MI:SS
  • Date: YYYY/MM/DD
  • Time with seconds: HH24:MI:SS
  • Time without seconds: HH24:MI

Include leading zeros in dates and times, e.g:

  • 2021/09/03
  • 04:43:09

Double quotations inside a field

Double quotations inside a field are escaped by preceding them with another double quote, e.g. aaa,"b""bb",ccc

Empty data columns

Null data columns require trailing commas

Fraction representation

AEMO systems support integers or real numbers only

The exponent format is not supported

Line terminator

The ASCII carriage return is used to indicate the end of each line of csv data

In Windows systems the line terminator is a carriage return (CR+LF)

In Unix-like systems the line terminator is \C\n

Numbers

Written as integers or real numbers e.g. 10000. Do not use commas

Records

Each record is one line, delimited by a line terminator, see Line terminator

Spaces - leading or trailing

Fields with leading or trailing spaces must be delimited with double-quote characters, e.g. John ,"  Doe  "

Avoid unless absolutely necessary

Special characters

Special characters such as commas are enclosed in double quotation marks, e.g. aaa","b