Why are columns 1-indexed?

To match the conventions of `cut`, `awk`, spreadsheet column letters (when seen as A=1), and how non-programmers count columns. Most CLI text-processing tools (`cut -f1,3`, `awk '{print $1, $3}'`) use 1-indexed columns, so this matches muscle memory.

How is auto-detect delimiter chosen?

The tool reads the first non-empty line and counts occurrences of common delimiters: tab, comma, pipe, semicolon. Whichever appears most consistently across the first few lines wins. If detection fails or you prefer explicit control, switch to manual.

Does it handle quoted CSV fields?

Yes for standard CSV — fields wrapped in `"..."` are parsed as a single field even if they contain commas or newlines (per RFC 4180). Embedded `""` is unescaped to `"`. For non-CSV delimiters (tab, pipe), no quoting is assumed — fields are split on the literal delimiter.

What's the column-range syntax?

Comma-separated list of single columns and ranges: `1,3,5-7,9`. Open ranges aren't supported — write `5-99` for 'columns 5 through end' if your data has fewer than 99 columns. Order in the input determines order in the output (i.e., `3,1` outputs col 3 first, col 1 second).

What about whitespace-aligned tables (like `ps` output)?

Switch to whitespace mode. The tool splits on any run of spaces or tabs (multiple spaces between columns are treated as one delimiter). Useful for command-line tool output. Note: this breaks if a column contains spaces — use a real CSV/TSV in that case.

Column Extractor

Text Tools· 20 tools

Free column extractor. Paste delimited data (CSV, TSV, pipe-separated, or whitespace-aligned) and pull only the columns you want. Specify columns by number (`1,3,5`) or range (`2-4`), choose the input delimiter (auto-detected by default), and pick any output delimiter — or output a single column as a clean line list. Works on logs, command output, spreadsheet copy-paste, and anything tabular.

Input

Input delimiter

Columns (1-indexed)

Output delimiter

optsSkip header row

4 rows

name,email
Alice Smith,alice@example.com
Bob Jones,bob@example.com
Carol Lee,carol@example.com

Frequently Asked Questions

References

RFC 4180 — CSV Format — IETF

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Frequently Asked Questions

References and sources

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