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SSV Format (Semicolon-Separated Values)

Description​

SSV (Semicolon-Separated Values) is a variant of CSV where fields are separated by semicolons (;). It's commonly used in European locales where comma is used as decimal separator. SSV extends the CSV implementation with a fixed semicolon delimiter.

File Extensions​

  • .ssv - Semicolon-separated values files

Implementation Details​

Reading​

The SSV implementation:

  • Extends CSV implementation
  • Uses semicolon (;) as delimiter
  • Supports all CSV features (encoding detection, quote handling)
  • Converts each row to a dictionary

Writing​

Writing support:

  • Uses semicolon delimiter
  • Supports all CSV writing features
  • Requires field names specification

Key Features​

  • Semicolon delimiter: Fixed semicolon character separator
  • CSV compatibility: Inherits all CSV features
  • Encoding support: Automatic encoding detection
  • Quote handling: Properly handles quoted fields
  • Totals support: Can count total rows

Usage​

from iterable import open_iterable

# Basic reading
with open_iterable('data.ssv') as source:
    for row in source:
        print(row)

# Writing
with open_iterable('output.ssv', mode='w', iterableargs={
    'keys': ['id', 'name', 'value']
}) as dest:
    dest.write({'id': '1', 'name': 'John', 'value': 'test'})

Parameters​

  • keys (list[str]): Column names (required for writing)
  • encoding (str): File encoding (default: auto-detected)
  • quotechar (str): Quote character (default: ")

Limitations​

  1. Flat data only: Only supports tabular data
  2. Schema required for writing: Must specify field names
  3. No type preservation: All values are strings
  4. Semicolon in data: If data contains semicolons, they must be quoted

Compression Support​

SSV files can be compressed with all supported codecs:

  • GZip (.ssv.gz)
  • BZip2 (.ssv.bz2)
  • LZMA (.ssv.xz)
  • LZ4 (.ssv.lz4)
  • ZIP (.ssv.zip)
  • Brotli (.ssv.br)
  • ZStandard (.ssv.zst)

Use Cases​

  • European locales: When comma is used as decimal separator
  • Excel exports: Some Excel exports use semicolon delimiter
  • Regional formats: Common in European data formats

Error Handling​

  • Missing dependency: optional libraries raise ImportError with an install hint (pip install 'iterabledata[<extra>]' when an extra exists).
  • Write mode: read-only formats raise WriteNotSupportedError or ValueError when opened with mode="w".
  • Bad or unsupported input: may raise ValueError, OSError, or library-specific errors.
  • See Troubleshooting for decoding, detection, and engine issues.
  • CSV - Comma-separated format
  • PSV - Pipe-separated format
  • TSV - Tab-separated format (uses CSV with tab delimiter)