A **comma separated values** (CSV) file is a plain text file, used to arrange tabular data, typically found in spreadsheets or databases. CSV files are frequently used as they are accessible in Microsoft Excel and data from a CSV file may also be imported in a database. The ease with which data from a CSV file can be parsed is why it is used commonly. 

CSV files follow a particular format to store data. Each data item is separated by a comma. 

# Basic structure of a CSV file

```HTML
  Column 1   ,   Column 2   , Column 3 ...
Row 1 Data 1 , Row 1 Data 2 , Row 1 Data 3 ...
Row 2 Data 1 , Row 2 Data 2 , Row 2 Data 3 ...

```

The first row represents the name of the column and each of the following rows represents the data. 

> **Note:** The most frequently used delimiter is a comma, however, other delimiters such as colon, semi-colon etc may also be used. 

# CSV file in Python
Python allows users to import data from a CSV file. This can be done as follows:
1. Import the `csv` library
2. Open the desired CSV file
3. Store data into a variable using the built-in `csv.reader` function
4. Loop through each row of data stored in the variable
5. Close the CVS file

Look at the following code to see how all these steps are put together.

Suppose the following data is stored in the file:

Name, Age, Department
John, 26, Accounts
Mike,  30, HR
James, 29, IT
Oliver,32, IT

 import csv  #importing the library

with open("data.csv") as csvFile:   #open the file
  CSVdata = csv.reader(csvFile, delimiter=',')  #read the data
  for row in CSVdata:   #loop through each row
    print row   #print the data
csvFile.close()   #close the file

The data obtained from a CSV file can be used in a variety of ways, depending on the user's needs. 

How to read a CSV file in Python

Python simplifies importing and processing CSV files with the csv library for versatile data use.