Convert semicolon delimited text to XML

Shiji Pan

1 year ago

Want to convert TXT (“;” semicolon delimited text) file to XML file?

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

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Convert TXT (“;” semicolon delimited text) to XML

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

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

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

1. Open source TXT (“;” semicolon delimited text) file.

Support large TXT file ( > 4GB ).

Source TXT file’s content is like this:

2. Config target XML file.

3. Set rows options.

4. Convert TXT to XML.

After converting, you can view the output XML file.

More about TXT to XML 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 (“;” semicolon delimited text) file to XML file in a few clicks

Semicolon-delimited text → XML reference

What is a semicolon-delimited file?

A semicolon-delimited file is a plain-text file where each line is one record and a semicolon ; separates the fields. It is the usual CSV variant in locales where the decimal separator is a comma, so a comma inside a number would otherwise be ambiguous.

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 ;.

Type mapping

Value kind	in Semicolon-delimited text	in XML
Int	`1234`	`<int>1234</int>`
Bigint	`9007199254740993`	`<bigint>9007199254740993</bigint>`
Decimal	`1234.56`	`<decimal>1234.56</decimal>`
Float	`1.234e+10`	`<float>1.234e10</float>`
Text	`quoted only when it contains a semicolon or a quote`	`<char>text</char>`
Long text	`must be quoted; line breaks inside force multi-line records`	`<text>multi-line text</text> (entities for & <)`
Date	`2026-09-18`	`<date>2026-09-18</date> (xs:date with an XSD)`
Datetime	`2026-09-18 14:30:00`	`<datetime>2026-09-18T14:30:00Z</datetime> (xs:dateTime)`
Binary	`not representable - base64 or hex string`	`<blob>base64...</blob> (xs:base64Binary)`
Boolean	`TRUE / FALSE, or 1 / 0 depending on the writer`	`<bool>true</bool>`
JSON	`the whole JSON value quoted, with internal quotes doubled`	`escaped inside an element, or its own sub-tree`

Dialect differences

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

Property	in Semicolon-delimited text	in XML
identifiers	`Double quotes; a literal quote is doubled ("" )`	`Attribute values in quotes; entities (& < >) for ...`
dates	`Dates often use D/M/Y or D.M.Y in European exports`	`Text (xs:date / xs:dateTime when an XSD is in play)`
binary	`Not supported`	`base64Binary / hexBinary inside text`
separator	`Semicolon ";"`	`Tags, not delimiters`
encoding	`Often ANSI or Latin-1 in European exports; UTF-8 needs a BOM`	`Declared in the XML declaration`
typing	`None - every field is text`	`None in the markup itself`
shape	`Flat table, optional header row`	`Arbitrary tree`
ceiling	`No formal limit; row count bounded by memory`	`Whole document is usually parsed into memory`

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