Pad Column in TSV Files Online
Left-pad or right-pad a column in TSV files to a fixed width directly in your browser. Zero-pad numeric codes, pad product IDs to a fixed length, or right-pad text fields — no upload required.
How to pad Column in TSV files
- Drop your file onto the upload area. The first column is selected by default, and the first 200 rows are shown.
- Pick the column to pad and the pad side: Left pad (lpad, for 007) or Right pad (rpad, for 700).
- Set the total width in characters (1 to 200, default 10) and the pad character (one character, default 0). A live hint shows what "42" would become.
- Choose "Replace column in place", or "Append as new column" with a name (default: the column name plus _padded).
- Click Pad Column, check the preview, and download the file in the same format you uploaded.
Your file is processed locally in your browser and is never uploaded. The free limit is 50 MB per file; larger files work if your device has the memory for them.
Worked example
A retail store list was opened and saved in a spreadsheet, which turned US ZIP codes into numbers and dropped their leading zeros. The ZIPs must be five characters again before the file is matched against a postal database.
Input (TSV)
store_id city zip
S-014 Boston 2134
S-022 Jersey City 7302
S-031 San Francisco 94107
S-047 Holtsville 501Settings
- Column to pad: zip
- Pad side: Left pad
- Total width: 5
- Pad character: 0
- Output mode: Replace column in place
Result
| store_id | city | zip |
|---|---|---|
| S-014 | Boston | 02134 |
| S-022 | Jersey City | 07302 |
| S-031 | San Francisco | 94107 |
| S-047 | Holtsville | 00501 |
Each ZIP is converted to text and zeros are added on the left until it is five characters long. 94107 is already five characters and is unchanged. The zip column is now text, not a number, which is what keeps the zeros. A value longer than five characters, such as a ZIP+4 written as 021341234, would be cut to its first five characters.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to values longer than the target width?
They are cut to the width. With a width of 5, "123456" becomes "12345" whether you pad left or right. Check the longest value in the column before choosing the width.
Can I pad with more than one character, such as "ab"?
No. The pad character box accepts a single character. An empty box falls back to 0.
Is the padded column still a number?
No. Padding converts the value to text first, so the result is always a text column. That is what lets it keep leading zeros.
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