Abbreviations in community posts

**jesus2099** · January 31, 2019, 9:09am

I’ve just had to lookup this one: Electronic Press Kit (EPK).

**Lotheric** · February 10, 2019, 12:59am

**InvisibleMan78** · February 11, 2019, 9:08am

FLOSS browser

There are a number of related terms and abbreviations for free and open-source software (FOSS or F/OSS), or free/libre and open-source software (FLOSS or F/LOSS – FLOSS is the FSF-preferred term).

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open-source_software#Overview

**IvanDobsky** · February 19, 2019, 9:10pm

I used a TLA and noticed it did not get picked up. Or maybe it is too geeky?

CSV is Comma Separate Values.

Or a way to make a plain dumb text file work as a database record.

Example:

Name, Rank, Number
Clegg, Corporal, 83954032
Pepper, Sergeant, 19654654

**InvisibleMan78** · February 19, 2019, 9:49pm

IHMO the C can also stand for “Character” so CSV could also mean “Character Separated Values”.
I’m wrong?

Your example is also true with:
Name; Rank; Number
Clegg; Corporal; 83954032
Pepper; Sergeant; 19654654

**IvanDobsky** · February 19, 2019, 9:51pm

@InvisibleMan78 it is Commas that separate the values. So Comma Separated Values is the standard meaning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values

**jesus2099** · February 19, 2019, 10:41pm

In France we more often separate with semicolons “;” because commas have the same function, in numbers, as dot in English: π = 3,14…
But it’s surely called comma separated values, at the origins, as it was most certainly created in USA.

**IvanDobsky** · February 20, 2019, 9:44am

@jesus2099 this is not about the way different nations represent numbers. It is simple computer text files from the 1980s. I put the wiki links up there to give details instead of my waffle. It also explains how it is not always literally a “comma” and semicolons are also common separators.

**jesus2099** · February 21, 2019, 6:37am

They say the same as I did, maybe better said:

Adjacent fields must be separated by a single comma. However, “CSV” formats vary greatly in this choice of separator character. In particular, in locales where the comma is used as a decimal separator, semicolon, TAB, or other characters are used instead.

**IvanDobsky** · February 20, 2019, 8:50pm

Yeah - I was trying not to waffle by linking the Wiki article to show the term CSV has deeper meanings than just commas. But the TLA is Comma Separated Value and is old skool. The separator can be many different characters.

Ohh - look - CSV now works. The web hamsters are working overtime. Hehe.

**Billy_Yank** · March 6, 2019, 3:05am

IOW = In other words

( Fly me to the moon… )