CSV formatting problems

Question

When I spool my sql results to a csv file some of the fields will get broken up into several columns. For instance, I could have a string: "How are you?" and it would be broken between two columns like "How ar" in one column and "e you?" in another. Is there a way to resolve this issue?

Answer 1

Unfortunately I cannot give you the exact script or output. I can give you an idea though of a similar script. Here is an example Script (almost identical to what I do completely before the select statement):
--Set the linesize large enough to accommodate the longest possible line.
SET LINESIZE 80
--Turn off all page headings, column headings, etc.
SET PAGESIZE 0
--Turn off feedback
SET FEEDBACK OFF
--Eliminate trailing blanks at the end of a line.
SET TRIMSPOOL ON
SET TERMOUT OFF
SPOOL current_employees.csv
SELECT '"ID","Billing Rate","Hire Date","Name"'
FROM dual;
I use the same format in one of my books.
I use MS Excel to open CSV files.
As far as the output goes I can't really generate an output for you except I can tell you that yes you are partially correct when you say the remaining text appears on the next line. However, the remaining text often appears in one or two cells over. In other words, a value may be split across two cells and the rest of the values shifted into the next cell to the right or some of the values appear in the correct cell and the rest of the values may appear shifted to the right.