Python Pandas.to_csv 无法将分号（;）的列导出为一列

Question

I have a dataframe with 3 columns, but 1 of the columns contain data that is separated by a semicolon(;) during export. I am trying to export a dataframe into a csv but my csv output data keeps getting separated into the following format when opening in excel:

import pandas as pd

my_dict = { 'name' : ["a", "b"],
            'age' : [20,27],
            'tag': ["Login Location;Visit Location;Appointment Location", "Login Location;Visit Location;Appointment Location"]}

df=pd.DataFrame(my_dict)

df.to_csv('output.csv',index=False)
print('done')

I would like to have the output in excel to be:

where the data in the tag column is intact. I've tried adding sep=',' or delimiter=',' but it still gives me the same output.

Thank you in advance,

John

Answer 1

Excel does some stuff based on the fact that your file has a .csv suffix, probably using ; as a default delimiter, as suggested in the comments.

One workaround is to use the .txt suffix instead:

df.to_csv('output.txt',index=False)

then open the file in Excel, and in the Text Import Wizard specify "Delimited" and comma as separator.

Do not pick the file in the list of previously opened files, if it's there, that won't work, you really need to do File/Open then browse the directory to find your .txt file.

Answer 2

Thank you @Alex and @joao for your inputs, this guided me to the right direction. I was able to get the output I needed by forcing excel to use , as the separator. By default, Excel was using tab as the delimiter, that's why it was showing me an incorrect format. Here's the link to forcing excel to use comma as a list separator: https://superuser.com/questions/606272/how-to-get-excel-to-interpret-the-comma-as-a-default-delimiter-in-csv-files