Convert MySQL Output to TSV Online

Paste a MySQL Output table below, edit it if you need to, and get TSV back. The conversion runs in your browser, so nothing is uploaded, there is no size limit and there is no signup.

From

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Nothing here is uploaded. The parsing happens on this page.

Edit

Paste or upload something above and it will appear here.

ToDataMarkupDocumentsCodeSchemasImages

Header rowDetect numbersDelimiterQuote every fieldUTF-8 BOM

The output will appear here once there is a table to convert.

What MySQL Output is

Not a file format at all. It is what the MySQL command line prints when you run a query: a box drawn with plus signs, dashes and pipes, with a line underneath saying how many rows were in the set.

Anyone who has run a query in a terminal and wants the answer in a spreadsheet.

What TSV is

TSV is CSV with tabs instead of commas. Because tabs almost never appear inside a value, quoting is rarely needed and the files are easier to read by eye.

Bioinformatics, log processing, and anyone who has copied a block of cells out of a spreadsheet: the clipboard format is TSV.

What changes when you convert MySQL Output to TSV

The rules and the trailing row count are dropped and the pipes become column boundaries. MySQL prints an unset value as the four characters NULL, which arrives here as an empty cell, because that is what NULL means and because a literal string of NULL in a spreadsheet is worse than a blank. Paste it as CSV instead and every row becomes one column full of pipes, which is why this is its own format.

Pick TSV over CSV when your values contain commas. Pasting the result straight into a spreadsheet fills the cells correctly with no import dialog.

What carries over from MySQL Output to TSV

MySQL records 4 things about a table that TSV has no way to hold.

MySQL distinguishes a number from the text of a number; TSV does not, so every value arrives as text and has to be re-parsed by whatever reads it next.

An empty cell and a missing one are the same thing in TSV, so a null and an empty string in the MySQL both come out blank and can no longer be told apart.

A line break inside a cell ends the row in TSV, so line breaks are replaced rather than carried through.

TSV has no separate idea of a header, so the column names become an ordinary first row and nothing in the file marks them as different from the data.

The identifier 007 comes out of the TSV as 007. Reading it as a number would have made it 7, and an id that changes value is worse than one that stays text.

The role "Analyst, data" survives with its comma, in one cell rather than split across two. That is the first thing to check in any converted table, and the usual place a TSV file goes wrong.

The quotes around Jonah "Jo" Pryce are doubled, which is how the delimited formats escape a quote in the TSV.

A worked example

Three rows of staff data, with an identifier that has a leading zero, a value containing a comma, a value containing quotes and one blank cell. Those are the four places formats disagree, so they are the four places to look.

MySQL Output in

+-----+------------------+---------------+------------+-------+
| id  | name             | role          | started    | hours |
+-----+------------------+---------------+------------+-------+
| 007 | Halima Yusuf     | Analyst, data | 2024-03-15 | 38.5  |
| 012 | Jonah "Jo" Pryce | Engineer      | 2025-11-02 | NULL  |
| 104 | Wei Chen         | Manager       | 2023-06-30 | 40    |
+-----+------------------+---------------+------------+-------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

TSV out

id	name	role	started	hours
007	Halima Yusuf	Analyst, data	2024-03-15	38.5
012	"Jonah ""Jo"" Pryce"	Engineer	2025-11-02	
104	Wei Chen	Manager	2023-06-30	40

Questions

How do I convert MySQL Output to TSV?

Paste your MySQL Output into the box above or drop the file onto it. Check the table in the grid, then copy or download the TSV from the output panel. It takes one step and the data never leaves your browser.

Can I paste output from psql or sqlite3 as well?

psql draws its box with different characters and is not read here. Both psql and the MySQL client can print tab-separated output instead, which is detected as TSV and is the more reliable route for either: mysql -B, or \pset format unaligned and \pset fieldsep in psql.

Will my numbers still be numbers?

They will read the same, but TSV stores them as text. Anything that sorts or sums the result will need to parse them first, and a leading zero or a currency symbol is the usual place that goes wrong.

One of my cells has a line break in it - what happens?

A line break would end the row in TSV, so it is replaced instead of carried through. The rest of the cell stays where it belongs.

Is there a limit on file size?

No. The work happens on your own machine, so the limit is your machine's memory rather than an upload cap. A file with tens of thousands of rows converts in a second or two.

Is my data uploaded anywhere?

No. The parsing and generating are done by JavaScript running on this page. You can watch the network tab while you convert and see that nothing is sent.