There is an opportunity here for an enterprising blocks coder to create a csv parser fitted with parameters listing its import options, like this LibreOffice sample:
The LibreOffice CSV Import features, all missing from AI2:
Opening a CSV file
Comma-separated values (CSV) files are spreadsheet files in a text format where cell contents
are separated by a character such as a comma or semi-colon. Each line in a CSV text file
represents a row in a spreadsheet. Text is entered between quotation marks; numbers are
entered without quotation marks.
To open a CSV file in Calc:
Choose File > Open on the Menu bar, click the Open icon on the Standard toolbar, or
press Ctrl+O and locate the CSV file that you want to open.
Select the file and click Open. By default, a CSV file has the extension .csv. However,
some CSV files may have a .txt extension.
The Text Import dialog (Figure 10) opens. Here you can select options for importing a
CSV file into a Calc spreadsheet.
Click OK to open and import the file.
The options for importing CSV files into a Calc spreadsheet are as follows:
Import
• Character set – specifies the character set to be used in the imported file.
• Language – determines how the number strings are imported. If Language is set to
Default, Calc will use the language associated with the locale selected at Tools >
Options > Language Settings > Languages > Formats. If another language is
selected, that language will determine how numbers are treated.
• From row – specifies which row the import starts with. The initial rows are visible in the
preview window at the bottom of the dialog.
Separator Options
• Fixed width – separates data into columns by a set number of characters. Click on the
ruler that appears in the preview window to set the width.
• Separated by – separates data into columns based on the separator defined here. Select
Other to specify another character used to separate data into columns. This custom
separator must also be contained in the data.
• Merge delimiters – combines consecutive delimiters and removes blank data fields.
• Trim spaces – removes starting and trailing spaces from within fields.
• String delimiter – select a character to delimit text data.
Tip
CSV files can identify the separator to use by including a first row of sep=X or
“sep=X” where X is the separator character. Set From row to 2 to import
correctly.
Figure 10: Text Import dialog
Other options
• Format quoted field as text – when this option is enabled, fields or cells whose values are
entirely within quotes are imported as text.
• Detect special numbers – when this option is enabled, Calc will automatically detect all
number formats, including special number formats such as dates, time, and scientific
notation. The selected language influences how such special numbers are detected,
since different languages and regions many have different conventions for such special
numbers.
• When this option is disabled, Calc will detect and convert only decimal numbers. The
rest, including numbers formatted in scientific notation, will be imported as text. A decimal
number string can have digits 0–9, thousands separators, and a decimal separator.
Thousands separators and decimal separators may vary with the selected language and
region.
• Evaluate formulas – when this option is enabled, fields that begin with an equals sign (=)
will be imported and evaluated as a formula instead of as data.
Fields – shows how your data will look when it is separated into columns.
Column type – select a column in the preview window and select the data type to be
applied to the imported data.
– Standard – Calc determines the type of data.
– Text – imported data are treated as text.
– Date – imported data are treated as dates in the selected format – “DMY”, “MDY”, or
“YMD”.
– US English – numbers formatted in US English are searched for and included
regardless of the system language. A number format is not applied. If there are no US
English entries, the Standard format is applied.
– Hide – the data in the column are not imported.
