About the Arbitrary Column Deleter
This tool removes the columns you do not want from a text table and keeps all the others in their original order. The table can use any delimiter: a pipe, two colons, a tab or even a word. Name the delimiter, list the columns to delete by number, as in 2, 1,3 or 2-4, or write last for the final column, and the result appears at once. It is the quickest way to strip identifiers, timestamps or private fields out of an export before you share it. The splitting is exact and plain, with no special treatment of quotes, and everything runs in your browser.
Updated October 2026
How to use the Arbitrary Column Deleter
- 1Paste your table into the left box, one row per line.
- 2Type the delimiter that separates the columns.
- 3Type the columns to delete, counting from 1: for example 2 or 1,3 or 2-4 or last.
- 4Check the table without those columns and the counts under it.
- 5Press Copy or Download to take the result.
Why delete columns
Exports usually contain more than you need: internal IDs, creation timestamps, notes, columns for systems you do not use. Removing them makes the data lighter, easier to read and safer to share. When the export uses an unusual delimiter, spreadsheet programs make this awkward, since you must import the text first with the right settings.
Choosing columns
Counting starts at 1 from the left. A list such as 2,5 deletes the second and fifth columns. A range such as 3-6 deletes four columns in a row, and last deletes the final column. Repeats are harmless; deleting a column twice has the same effect as once.
- 2 : the second column
- 1,3 : first and third
- 2-4 : second to fourth
- last : the final column
Delimiters and special characters
The delimiter can be one character or several, may contain spaces, and can be written as \t for a tab. The match is exact and case-sensitive. If the delimiter appears inside a value, that value will be split in the wrong place; choose a delimiter that never occurs in the values when you create the export.
A quick example
Take rows of id, name and city separated by double colons. Type :: as the delimiter and 2 as the column to delete. The names disappear and the result keeps id and city, still separated by double colons. The counts tell you one column was deleted and two are left.
Phone and computer
On a phone, paste the table, type the columns and copy the result. On a computer you can also download it. Tables with hundreds of thousands of rows work well.
Good to know
Deleting is done on the text you pasted; your original file is never changed. Quoted CSV values are not interpreted, so for real CSV use CSV Column Remover. Line breaks inside a value cannot be handled, because each line is read as one row. If you only want to keep one column instead, the Arbitrary Column Extractor does that, and the TSV Column Remover is the fixed-tab version.
Features
- Delete by number, list, range or last
- Remaining columns keep their order
- Any delimiter, even several characters
- Counts of deleted and remaining columns
- Refuses to delete every column
- Private: nothing is uploaded
Frequently asked questions
How do I choose which columns to delete?
Type their numbers, counting from 1. Use commas for several, a dash for a range and last for the final column, for example 1,3-4,last.
Can I delete every column?
No. The tool asks you to keep at least one, because an empty table is rarely what you want.
Is anything else changed?
No. The other columns keep their text and their order, and the delimiter stays the same.
Can I use it to remove private data before sharing?
Yes, for text exports. Delete the columns with personal data, then check the result before you share it.
What if some rows are shorter than others?
Columns that don't exist in a short row are simply skipped. The other values keep their place.
Is my text uploaded?
No. It stays in your browser.