
----------------------------------------
MIME type name: text
MIME subtype name: tab-separated-values
Required Parameters: Character Set, Encoding Type
Optional Paramters: None

Security Considerations: none


Published Specification:

Doesn't really need any, but here goes:

Definition of tab-separated-values (tsv)
----------------------------------------

tsv is a popular method of data interchange among databases and
spreadsheets and word processors with Mail-merge functions. It is the
lowest common denominator in many cases between two different
applications.

A tsv file encodes a number of records that may contain multiple
fields.  Each record is represented as a single line.  Each field
value is represented as text.  Fields in a record are separated from
each other by a tab character.

Note that fields that contain tabs are not allowable in this encoding.

The first line of this encoding is special, it contains the name of
each field, separated by tabs.

Each record must have the same number of fields.

Here is a quick BNF


field    ::= [character]+           # multiple characters
name     ::= [character]+            
nameline ::= name [TAB name]+ EOL

record   ::= field [TAB field]+ EOL   # at least one field, or more

tsv      ::= nameline record+

Given that the number of tabs per line must be constant.



Example
=======

Name<TAB>Age<TAB>Address
Paul<TAB>23<TAB>1115 W Franklin
Bessy the Cow<TAB>5<TAB>Big Farm Way
Zeke<TAB>45<TAB>W Main St


Contact-Info:

U of MN Internet Gopher Team <gopher@boombox.micro.umn.edu>
