About the Arbitrary Delimiter Changer
Most delimiter tools only understand commas, semicolons, tabs and pipes. Real data is messier: some exports separate columns with two colons, a tilde, a double pipe or even a word. This tool changes any delimiter into any other. Type the delimiter your text uses now and the one you want, and every row is split and joined again. The delimiters can be several characters long and may include spaces, and \t stands for a tab. It is plain splitting, so quotation marks are not treated specially, which is what you want for log-style and exported text. Nothing leaves your browser.
Updated October 2026
How to use the Arbitrary Delimiter Changer
- 1Paste your table into the left box, one row per line.
- 2Type the current delimiter in the first box, for example :: or | or \t for a tab.
- 3Type the new delimiter in the second box. It can be several characters, or even spaces.
- 4Read the converted table on the right and the row and column counts under it.
- 5Press Copy or Download to take the result.
Why a delimiter tool for any text
Programs invent delimiters. A legacy system may export fields separated by two colons, a log may use a pipe with spaces around it, and a data dump may use a rare character such as a tilde so that commas can appear freely in the values. To import such text into a spreadsheet or database, you first convert it to a delimiter that the target understands.
How the conversion works
Every line is cut at each occurrence of the current delimiter and the pieces are joined again with the new one. Because the match is exact, a two-character delimiter such as double colon does not split a single colon. Overlapping matches are read from left to right, so three colons in a row are one double colon followed by a colon.
- Current delimiter: the exact text between your values
- New delimiter: anything, including spaces or a tab
- Rows are never merged or reordered
Typing special characters
A tab cannot be typed into a text box without moving focus, so write \t instead. To use a real backslash, write two of them. Spaces around a delimiter count: if your text has a pipe with a space on each side, type exactly that, space pipe space.
A quick example
Take three rows separated by double colons, such as id, name and city, then 1, Ann and Rome. Set the current delimiter to :: and the new one to a comma. The result is an ordinary CSV: id,name,city and so on. Set the new delimiter to \t and you get a tab-separated table that pastes straight into a spreadsheet.
Phone and computer
On a phone, paste the table from a note or message and copy the result back. On a computer you can also download it as a text file. Texts with hundreds of thousands of rows work, but the page may take a moment to show them.
Good to know
Because quotes are not interpreted, a delimiter that appears inside a value will also split it. If that matters, choose a delimiter that never occurs in the values. Line breaks inside a value cannot be handled either, since each line is one row. For a plain comma file, the Text to CSV Converter is simpler, and the Arbitrary Column Extractor pulls out just the parts you need after the change.
Features
- Any delimiter, including several characters
- \t for tab
- Row and column counts
- Handles uneven rows
- Copy and download
- Private: nothing is uploaded
Frequently asked questions
What is a delimiter?
The text that separates the values in a row. In a CSV file it is a comma. In other exports it may be a semicolon, a tab, a pipe, two colons or any other text.
Can the delimiter be more than one character?
Yes. Type :: or ||| or a whole word. The tool splits on that exact text everywhere it occurs.
How do I use a tab?
Type \t in the box. The tool understands it as a tab character in both the current and the new delimiter.
What happens to quotation marks?
They are treated as ordinary text. If your file uses quotes to protect delimiters inside values, as real CSV does, use CSV Delimiter Changer instead.
What if a row has fewer columns than the others?
It is left as it is. The count under the result shows the widest row.
Is my text uploaded?
No. It is converted in your browser.