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<H2><A NAME="SECTION00142020000000000000000"></A><A NAME="csv-fmt-params"></A>
<BR>
12.20.2 Dialects and Formatting Parameters
</H2>

<P>
To make it easier to specify the format of input and output records,
specific formatting parameters are grouped together into dialects.  A
dialect is a subclass of the <tt class="class">Dialect</tt> class having a set of specific
methods and a single <tt class="method">validate()</tt> method.  When creating <tt class="class">reader</tt>
or <tt class="class">writer</tt> objects, the programmer can specify a string or a subclass
of the <tt class="class">Dialect</tt> class as the dialect parameter.  In addition to, or
instead of, the <var>dialect</var> parameter, the programmer can also specify
individual formatting parameters, which have the same names as the
attributes defined below for the <tt class="class">Dialect</tt> class.

<P>
Dialects support the following attributes:

<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-4230' xml:id='l2h-4230' class="member">delimiter</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
A one-character string used to separate fields.  It defaults to <code>','</code>.
</dl>

<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-4231' xml:id='l2h-4231' class="member">doublequote</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Controls how instances of <var>quotechar</var> appearing inside a field should be
themselves be quoted.  When <tt class="constant">True</tt>, the character is doubled.
When <tt class="constant">False</tt>, the <var>escapechar</var> must be a one-character string
which is used as a prefix to the <var>quotechar</var>.  It defaults to
<tt class="constant">True</tt>.
</dl>

<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-4232' xml:id='l2h-4232' class="member">escapechar</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
A one-character string used to escape the <var>delimiter</var> if <var>quoting</var>
is set to <tt class="constant">QUOTE_NONE</tt>.  It defaults to <tt class="constant">None</tt>.
</dl>

<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-4233' xml:id='l2h-4233' class="member">lineterminator</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
The string used to terminate lines in the CSV file.  It defaults to
<code>'&#92;r&#92;n'</code>.
</dl>

<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-4234' xml:id='l2h-4234' class="member">quotechar</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
A one-character string used to quote elements containing the <var>delimiter</var>
or which start with the <var>quotechar</var>.  It defaults to <code>'"'</code>.
</dl>

<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-4235' xml:id='l2h-4235' class="member">quoting</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
Controls when quotes should be generated by the writer.  It can take on any
of the <tt class="constant">QUOTE_*</tt> constants (see section&nbsp;<A href="csv-contents.html#csv-contents">12.20.1</A>)
and defaults to <tt class="constant">QUOTE_MINIMAL</tt>.
</dl>

<P>
<dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-4236' xml:id='l2h-4236' class="member">skipinitialspace</tt></b></dt>
<dd>
When <tt class="constant">True</tt>, whitespace immediately following the <var>delimiter</var>
is ignored.  The default is <tt class="constant">False</tt>.
</dl>

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<span class="release-info">Release 2.4.2, documentation updated on 28 September 2005.</span>
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