How This CSV Column Filter Works
Paste CSV data, type the names of the columns you want to keep, and this csv column filter produces a trimmed-down CSV instantly, no signup, no account. It doubles as a csv column extractor for the common case of pulling a handful of fields out of a much wider export without opening a spreadsheet application.
Reorder and Rename in the Same Pass
This is a genuine csv column picker, not just a remove columns from csv tool, the output column order matches whatever order you type the names in, so reorder csv columns and select columns from csv happen in the same step. A separate rename csv columns online field lets you remap headers with a simple old:new mapping, useful when the source export uses different header names than whatever you are importing into, effectively a csv header rename tool built into the same pass.
Delimiter Support and Quoted Fields
Beyond comma-delimited files, this filter csv columns online free tool also handles semicolon, tab, and pipe-delimited data, matching whichever export format you are working with. Quoted fields containing the delimiter itself, an embedded comma inside a comma-delimited value, or a newline, are parsed correctly rather than being split into extra columns.
Common Uses and Limitations
A common reason to extract columns from csv like this is trimming a wide database or analytics export down to the handful of fields a downstream tool actually needs, or remapping headers to match an import schema before loading the data elsewhere. Column names must match the source header exactly, matching is case-sensitive and there is no wildcard or pattern-based selection, if a column is renamed in the source file the filter needs the new exact name.