The output is not what I expected.
Recheck the input, selected options and the limitation notes below; preserve the original before trying a destructive cleanup. Quoted delimiters, escaped quotes and multiline CSV fields are not parsed.
Delimited Text Column Extractor
Pull one column from simple delimited lines without opening a spreadsheet.
What this tool does
Choose a delimiter and a 1-based column number. The tool splits each line and returns the selected field; it is suitable for simple CSV-like, TSV, pipe-delimited and log data, but it is not a standards-compliant CSV parser for quoted or multiline fields.
Paste simple delimited rows, choose a column and extract the values.
Maximum 500,000 characters: 0 / 500000
No result
How to use it
Paste the delimited rows and identify the character between fields.
Select the delimiter and enter the target column number starting from 1.
Extract the values, inspect short or uneven rows and copy the result.
Key features
- Comma, tab, pipe or configured delimiter splitting.
- 1-based column selection.
- Line-by-line output for lightweight extraction.
Practical use cases
- Pulling IDs or labels from simple TSV exports.
- Extracting one field from pipe-delimited logs.
- Quickly checking a column before a larger data conversion.
Limitations and important notes
- Quoted delimiters, escaped quotes and multiline CSV fields are not parsed.
- Rows with fewer columns need an explicit, tested behavior.
- Use a full CSV parser or CSV converter for standards-compliant files.
Troubleshooting
The page becomes slow with a large input or repeat count.
Reduce the input, split the operation into smaller batches and close other memory-heavy tabs. Keep an original copy before retrying.
The result changes after I paste it elsewhere.
Test the destination app, font and character encoding. Some apps normalize whitespace or render Unicode differently.
Frequently asked questions
How do I extract one column from delimited text?
Choose a delimiter and a 1-based column number. The tool splits each line and returns the selected field; it is suitable for simple CSV-like, TSV, pipe-delimited and log data, but it is not a standards-compliant CSV parser for quoted or multiline fields.
Is the first column 0 or 1?
The first column is 1.
Why does a quoted comma split the wrong field?
The tool uses simple delimiter splitting and does not parse quoted CSV fields. Use a standards-compliant CSV workflow instead.
What are the limitations?
Quoted delimiters, escaped quotes and multiline CSV fields are not parsed. Rows with fewer columns need an explicit, tested behavior. Use a full CSV parser or CSV converter for standards-compliant files.
Related tools
Use the tool
Paste simple delimited rows, choose a column and extract the values.