Search Text in CSV Files Online
Search for text across all string columns in CSV files directly in your browser. Filter rows to only those containing your search term and download the results — no upload required.
How to search Text in CSV files
- Drop your file onto the upload area. It is loaded in your browser and the first 200 rows are shown.
- Type the text to look for in the Search term box. The tool matches it anywhere inside a value, so "refund" also finds "refunds" and "Refund policy".
- Pick the columns to search. Every text column is selected by default. Use All or None, or click a column name to toggle it. Number and date columns are not listed.
- Tick Case sensitive if capitalisation matters, then click Search or press Enter. The tool reports how many rows matched out of the total.
- Click Download to save only the matching rows 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 support lead exports the helpdesk queue and wants every ticket that mentions refunds, whatever the capitalisation, before a finance review.
Input (CSV)
ticket_id,subject,product,status
4101,Refund not received after cancellation,Billing,open
4102,App crashes on login,Mobile,open
4103,Partial REFUND for duplicate charge,Billing,closed
4104,Password reset email missing,Account,open
4105,Question about refunds policy,Billing,pendingSettings
- Search term: refund
- Columns: subject, product, status (all text columns)
- Case sensitive: off
Result
| ticket_id | subject | product | status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4101 | Refund not received after cancellation | Billing | open |
| 4103 | Partial REFUND for duplicate charge | Billing | closed |
| 4105 | Question about refunds policy | Billing | pending |
Three of five rows match. The search is a substring match, so "refunds" in ticket 4105 counts, and with Case sensitive off "REFUND" in ticket 4103 counts too. ticket_id is a number column, so it is not searched. With Case sensitive on, only ticket 4105 would match, because it is the only one with a lowercase "refund".
Working with CSV files
A CSV file has no declared types, so the engine decides which columns are text when it reads the file. That decision controls what you can search. A column of order numbers such as 10045 is read as a number and will not appear in the column list. A code column like "A-10045" stays text and can be searched. If you need to search digits inside a numeric column, run Cast Columns to turn it into text first.
Quoted fields are unwrapped before matching, so a subject written as "Refund, partial" in the file is searched as Refund, partial without the quotes. Leading and trailing spaces are kept and can be part of a match. Empty fields become NULL and never match anything. The downloaded CSV keeps the header row and the original column order. Only rows that matched are written, and fields are quoted again only when they contain a comma, a quote or a line break.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is a column from my CSV missing from the search list?
The engine read that column as a number, date or boolean, and only text columns are listed. Convert it with Cast Columns to VARCHAR, then search again.
Can I search a CSV file that uses semicolons as the delimiter?
Yes. The delimiter is detected when the file loads. The matching rows are downloaded as a comma-separated file. Use Change Delimiter afterwards if you need semicolons back.
Does the search support wildcards or regular expressions?
There is no regular expression mode. The term is matched as a substring with SQL LIKE (or ILIKE when Case sensitive is off). Because of that, % in your term matches any run of characters and _ matches any single character. Use Regex Extract or the SQL Query tool for pattern matching.
How are multiple columns combined?
A row is kept if the term appears in any selected column. There is no AND mode across columns. To require a match in two columns, run the search twice, once per column.
Can I search for more than one word at a time?
The whole term is matched as one string, including spaces. "late fee" only finds rows containing those two words next to each other. For either-or searches, run separate searches or use the SQL Query tool.
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