csvlint is a library and command-line utility for linting CSV files according to RFC 4180.

It assumes that your CSV file has an initial header row.

Everything in this README file refers to the command-line utility. For information about the library, see godoc.

Standalone executables for multiple platforms are available via Github Releases.

You can also compile from source:

go get github.com/Clever/csvlint/cmd/csvlint

csvlint [options] /path/to/csv/file

NOTE: The default settings validate that a CSV conforms to RFC 4180. By changing the settings, you can no longer strictly guarantee a CSV conforms to RFC 4180.

• delimiter: the field delimiter, can be any single unicode character
  • default: "," (comma)
  • valid options: "\t", "|", "ஃ", etc
  • if you want multi-character delimiters, you're probably doing CSVs wrong
• lazyquotes: allow a quote to appear in an unquoted field and a non-doubled quote to appear in a quoted field. WARNING: your file may pass linting, but not parse in the way you would expect

$ csvlint bad_quote.csv
Record #1 has error: bare " in non-quoted-field
unable to parse any further
$ csvlint --lazyquotes bad_quote.csv
file is valid
$ csvlint mult_long_columns.csv
Record #2 has error: wrong number of fields in line
Record #4 has error: wrong number of fields in line
$ csvlint --delimiter='\t' mult_long_columns_tabs.csv
Record #2 has error: wrong number of fields in line
Record #4 has error: wrong number of fields in line
$ csvlint one_long_column.csv
Record #2 has error: wrong number of fields in line
$ csvlint perfect.csv
file is valid

csvlint uses three different exit codes to mean different things:

• 0 - the file is valid
• 1 - couldn't parse the entire file
• 2 - could parse the file, but there were lint failures

Please view the dev-handbook for instructions.