Convert pipe delimited text to JSON

Shiji Pan

1 year ago

Want to convert TXT (“|” pipe delimited text) file to JSON file?

Try Withdata Data File Converter, a desktop TXT to JSON converter for Windows, MacOS, and Linux, Convert TXT to JSON, Easy and Fast.

Can run in GUI mode, Step by Step, just a few mouse clicks.
Can run in Command line, for Scheduled Tasks and Streams.
Convert files locally and privately, avoid uploading large TXT file(s) to online services.
Support Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Download Withdata DataFileConverter
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Convert TXT (“|” pipe delimited text) to JSON

Choose TXT file -> Set JSON file -> Convert TXT to JSON

“Start a New Convert” for “TXT to JSON”.

Select From “File” “TXT” To “File” “JSON”.

1. Open source TXT (“|” pipe delimited text) file.

Support large TXT file ( > 4GB ).

Source TXT file’s content is like this:

2. Config target JSON file.

3. Set rows options.

4. Convert TXT to JSON.

After converting, you can view the output JSON file.

More about TXT to JSON converter

Download Withdata DataFileConverter
Windows 64 bit
Windows 32 bit
Linux .deb (For Debian, Ubuntu) 64 bit
Linux .rpm (For Red Hat, Fedora, SUSE) 64 bit
MacOS 64 bit

See Video: Convert TXT (“|” pipe delimited text) file to JSON file in a few clicks

Pipe-delimited text → JSON reference

What is a pipe-delimited file?

A pipe-delimited file (also called pipe-separated values, PSV) is a plain-text file where each line is one record and a vertical bar | separates the fields. It works like CSV but uses | instead of ,, so a value that contains commas needs no quoting.

Name|Age|City
Alice|30|New York
Bob|41|San Francisco

To open it in Excel: Data → From Text/CSV, then set the delimiter to | (or Text to Columns → Other = |).

Type mapping

Value kind	in Pipe-delimited text	in JSON
Int	`1234`	`1234 (number)`
Decimal	`1234.56`	`1234.56 (number)`
Float	`1.234e+10`	`1.234e10 (number)`
Text	`quoted only when it contains a pipe or a quote`	`"text" (string)`
Long text	`must be quoted; line breaks inside force multi-line records`	`"multi-line\ntext" (escaped newline inside a string)`
Date	`2026-09-18`	`"2026-09-18" (string)`
Datetime	`2026-09-18 14:30:00`	`"2026-09-18T14:30:00Z" (string)`
Binary	`not representable - base64 or hex string`	`"base64:..." (string)`
Boolean	`TRUE / FALSE, or 1 / 0 depending on the writer`	`true / false (boolean)`
JSON	`the whole JSON value quoted, with internal quotes doubled`	`nested object or array, kept as structure`

Dialect differences

Both Pipe-delimited text and JSON are file formats, so what differs below is how each one chooses to represent a value.

Property	in Pipe-delimited text	in JSON
identifiers	`Double quotes; a literal quote is doubled ("" )`	`Double quotes; backslash escapes`
dates	`Conventional text: 2026-09-18 or 2026-09-18 14:30:00`	`No date type: dates arrive as strings and the reader must p...`
binary	`Not supported`	`Not supported natively - base64 inside a string`
separator	`Pipe "\|"`	`Braces and commas`
encoding	`No declaration - UTF-8 works only with a BOM`	`UTF-8 by definition`
typing	`None - every field is text`	`string, number, boolean, null, object, array - no date type`
shape	`Flat table, optional header row`	`Nested objects and arrays`
ceiling	`No formal limit; row count bounded by memory`	`Whole document is usually parsed into memory`

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