What is delimiter? - Definition from WhatIs.com

In computer programming, a delimiter is a character that identifies the beginning or the end of a character string (a contiguous sequence of characters). The delimiting character is not part of the character string. In command syntax, a space or a backslash () or a forward slash (/) is often a delimiter, depending on the rules of the command language. The program interpreting the character string knows what the delimiters are.

Delimiters can also be used to separate the data items in a database (the columns in the database table) when transporting the database to another application. For example, a comma-separated values file(CSV file) is one in which each value in the cells of a table row is delimited by and separated from the next value by a comma. The beginning of a row is indicated by a new line character.

This was last updated in April 2005
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