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Asked: 2026-05-22T23:27:43+00:00

I have a Web site (PHP) that generates a CSV file (text/csv) with the

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I have a Web site (PHP) that generates a CSV file (text/csv) with the following content:

ID;E-Mail_User;Name;Applikation;Rolle;Auftragsdatum;Administrator
522;user@domain;WXDUILAS;ABCD;XYZ;2009-03-04 05:00:09;user@domain

When I select OpenOffice to show the CSV file only an empty spread sheet is shown. No error is displayed. When I try to open the file with oocalc test.csv the same happens. I have tried different versions of OpenOffice.

What is wrong with the file? How can I get an error message out of OpenOffice?

Update:
It does not have anything to do with the use of semicolons. I have reduced the file to 4 charaters. A file with the contents ID;A opens the CSV import dialog. But a ID;E opens an empty sheet. Why?

Update 2:
The pattern id;E also works. ID;E must be some kind of magic code. Does anybody know the meaning?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    ID; in the first 3 characters of a file is the signature for a SYLK file. The fourth character can be a P, N or an E which flags certain information about how the rest of the file should be processed… so your “CSV” file is almost certainly being parsed as a SYLK file when that initial signature is read, and the remainder of the file is not valid SYLK format.

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