Convert SQL to TSV Online

Paste a SQL 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.

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

What SQL is

SQL here means the statements that move a table into a database: INSERT INTO with a VALUES list, and optionally the CREATE TABLE that defines the columns.

Anyone seeding a database, moving a spreadsheet into an application, or writing a migration.

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 SQL to TSV

Column names come from the INSERT column list, or from a CREATE TABLE if one is present. Quoted strings are unquoted, doubled quotes are collapsed, and NULL becomes an empty cell.

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 SQL to TSV

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

SQL 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 SQL 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.

SQL in
INSERT INTO `staff` (`id`, `name`, `role`, `started`, `hours`) VALUES
  ('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');
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 SQL to TSV?

Paste your SQL 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.

Are the generated INSERT statements safe to run?

Quotes in your data are escaped, so the statements are syntactically correct. They are not parameterised, which is fine for a one-off import you are running yourself and not fine as a pattern for application code that takes user input.

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.

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