---
title: Csv codec plugin
description: Plugin version: v1.1.0 (Other versions), Released on: 2021-07-28, Changelog. For questions about the plugin, open a topic in the Discuss forums. For bugs...
url: https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/plugins-codecs-csv
products:
  - Logstash
applies_to:
  - Elastic Stack: Generally available
---

# Csv codec plugin
- Plugin version: v1.1.0 ([Other versions](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/logstash/versioned-plugins/codec-csv-index))
- Released on: 2021-07-28
- [Changelog](https://github.com/logstash-plugins/logstash-codec-csv/blob/v1.1.0/CHANGELOG.md)


## Getting help

For questions about the plugin, open a topic in the [Discuss](http://discuss.elastic.co) forums. For bugs or feature requests, open an issue in [Github](https://github.com/logstash-plugins/logstash-codec-csv). For the list of Elastic supported plugins, please consult the [Elastic Support Matrix](https://www.elastic.co/support/matrix#matrix_logstash_plugins).

## Description

The csv codec takes CSV data, parses it and passes it along.

## Compatibility with the Elastic Common Schema (ECS)

The plugin behaves the same regardless of ECS compatibility, except giving a warning when ECS is enabled and `target` isn’t set.
Set the `target` option to avoid potential schema conflicts.

## Csv Codec configuration options


| Setting                                                                      | Input type                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Required |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |----------|
| [`autodetect_column_names`](#plugins-codecs-csv-autodetect_column_names)     | [boolean](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#boolean)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  | No       |
| [`autogenerate_column_names`](#plugins-codecs-csv-autogenerate_column_names) | [boolean](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#boolean)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  | No       |
| [`charset`](#plugins-codecs-csv-charset)                                     | [string](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#string), one of `["ASCII-8BIT", "UTF-8", "US-ASCII", "Big5", "Big5-HKSCS", "Big5-UAO", "CP949", "Emacs-Mule", "EUC-JP", "EUC-KR", "EUC-TW", "GB2312", "GB18030", "GBK", "ISO-8859-1", "ISO-8859-2", "ISO-8859-3", "ISO-8859-4", "ISO-8859-5", "ISO-8859-6", "ISO-8859-7", "ISO-8859-8", "ISO-8859-9", "ISO-8859-10", "ISO-8859-11", "ISO-8859-13", "ISO-8859-14", "ISO-8859-15", "ISO-8859-16", "KOI8-R", "KOI8-U", "Shift_JIS", "UTF-16BE", "UTF-16LE", "UTF-32BE", "UTF-32LE", "Windows-31J", "Windows-1250", "Windows-1251", "Windows-1252", "IBM437", "IBM737", "IBM775", "CP850", "IBM852", "CP852", "IBM855", "CP855", "IBM857", "IBM860", "IBM861", "IBM862", "IBM863", "IBM864", "IBM865", "IBM866", "IBM869", "Windows-1258", "GB1988", "macCentEuro", "macCroatian", "macCyrillic", "macGreek", "macIceland", "macRoman", "macRomania", "macThai", "macTurkish", "macUkraine", "CP950", "CP951", "IBM037", "stateless-ISO-2022-JP", "eucJP-ms", "CP51932", "EUC-JIS-2004", "GB12345", "ISO-2022-JP", "ISO-2022-JP-2", "CP50220", "CP50221", "Windows-1256", "Windows-1253", "Windows-1255", "Windows-1254", "TIS-620", "Windows-874", "Windows-1257", "MacJapanese", "UTF-7", "UTF8-MAC", "UTF-16", "UTF-32", "UTF8-DoCoMo", "SJIS-DoCoMo", "UTF8-KDDI", "SJIS-KDDI", "ISO-2022-JP-KDDI", "stateless-ISO-2022-JP-KDDI", "UTF8-SoftBank", "SJIS-SoftBank", "BINARY", "CP437", "CP737", "CP775", "IBM850", "CP857", "CP860", "CP861", "CP862", "CP863", "CP864", "CP865", "CP866", "CP869", "CP1258", "Big5-HKSCS:2008", "ebcdic-cp-us", "eucJP", "euc-jp-ms", "EUC-JISX0213", "eucKR", "eucTW", "EUC-CN", "eucCN", "CP936", "ISO2022-JP", "ISO2022-JP2", "ISO8859-1", "ISO8859-2", "ISO8859-3", "ISO8859-4", "ISO8859-5", "ISO8859-6", "CP1256", "ISO8859-7", "CP1253", "ISO8859-8", "CP1255", "ISO8859-9", "CP1254", "ISO8859-10", "ISO8859-11", "CP874", "ISO8859-13", "CP1257", "ISO8859-14", "ISO8859-15", "ISO8859-16", "CP878", "MacJapan", "ASCII", "ANSI_X3.4-1968", "646", "CP65000", "CP65001", "UTF-8-MAC", "UTF-8-HFS", "UCS-2BE", "UCS-4BE", "UCS-4LE", "CP932", "csWindows31J", "SJIS", "PCK", "CP1250", "CP1251", "CP1252", "external", "locale"]` | No       |
| [`columns`](#plugins-codecs-csv-columns)                                     | [array](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#array)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | No       |
| [`convert`](#plugins-codecs-csv-convert)                                     | [hash](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#hash)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | No       |
| [`ecs_compatibility`](#plugins-codecs-csv-ecs_compatibility)                 | [string](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#string)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | No       |
| [`include_headers`](#plugins-codecs-csv-include_headers)                     | [boolean](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#boolean)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  | No       |
| [`quote_char`](#plugins-codecs-csv-quote_char)                               | [string](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#string)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | No       |
| [`separator`](#plugins-codecs-csv-separator)                                 | [string](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#string)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | No       |
| [`skip_empty_columns`](#plugins-codecs-csv-skip_empty_columns)               | [boolean](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#boolean)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  | No       |
| [`target`](#plugins-codecs-csv-target)                                       | [string](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#string)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | No       |


### `autodetect_column_names`

- Value type is [boolean](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#boolean)
- Default value is `false`

Define whether column names should be auto-detected from the header column or not. Defaults to false.

### `autogenerate_column_names`

- Value type is [boolean](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#boolean)
- Default value is `true`

Define whether column names should be autogenerated or not. Defaults to true. If set to false, columns not having a header specified will not be parsed.

### `charset`

- Value can be any of: `ASCII-8BIT`, `UTF-8`, `US-ASCII`, `Big5`, `Big5-HKSCS`, `Big5-UAO`, `CP949`, `Emacs-Mule`, `EUC-JP`, `EUC-KR`, `EUC-TW`, `GB2312`, `GB18030`, `GBK`, `ISO-8859-1`, `ISO-8859-2`, `ISO-8859-3`, `ISO-8859-4`, `ISO-8859-5`, `ISO-8859-6`, `ISO-8859-7`, `ISO-8859-8`, `ISO-8859-9`, `ISO-8859-10`, `ISO-8859-11`, `ISO-8859-13`, `ISO-8859-14`, `ISO-8859-15`, `ISO-8859-16`, `KOI8-R`, `KOI8-U`, `Shift_JIS`, `UTF-16BE`, `UTF-16LE`, `UTF-32BE`, `UTF-32LE`, `Windows-31J`, `Windows-1250`, `Windows-1251`, `Windows-1252`, `IBM437`, `IBM737`, `IBM775`, `CP850`, `IBM852`, `CP852`, `IBM855`, `CP855`, `IBM857`, `IBM860`, `IBM861`, `IBM862`, `IBM863`, `IBM864`, `IBM865`, `IBM866`, `IBM869`, `Windows-1258`, `GB1988`, `macCentEuro`, `macCroatian`, `macCyrillic`, `macGreek`, `macIceland`, `macRoman`, `macRomania`, `macThai`, `macTurkish`, `macUkraine`, `CP950`, `CP951`, `IBM037`, `stateless-ISO-2022-JP`, `eucJP-ms`, `CP51932`, `EUC-JIS-2004`, `GB12345`, `ISO-2022-JP`, `ISO-2022-JP-2`, `CP50220`, `CP50221`, `Windows-1256`, `Windows-1253`, `Windows-1255`, `Windows-1254`, `TIS-620`, `Windows-874`, `Windows-1257`, `MacJapanese`, `UTF-7`, `UTF8-MAC`, `UTF-16`, `UTF-32`, `UTF8-DoCoMo`, `SJIS-DoCoMo`, `UTF8-KDDI`, `SJIS-KDDI`, `ISO-2022-JP-KDDI`, `stateless-ISO-2022-JP-KDDI`, `UTF8-SoftBank`, `SJIS-SoftBank`, `BINARY`, `CP437`, `CP737`, `CP775`, `IBM850`, `CP857`, `CP860`, `CP861`, `CP862`, `CP863`, `CP864`, `CP865`, `CP866`, `CP869`, `CP1258`, `Big5-HKSCS:2008`, `ebcdic-cp-us`, `eucJP`, `euc-jp-ms`, `EUC-JISX0213`, `eucKR`, `eucTW`, `EUC-CN`, `eucCN`, `CP936`, `ISO2022-JP`, `ISO2022-JP2`, `ISO8859-1`, `ISO8859-2`, `ISO8859-3`, `ISO8859-4`, `ISO8859-5`, `ISO8859-6`, `CP1256`, `ISO8859-7`, `CP1253`, `ISO8859-8`, `CP1255`, `ISO8859-9`, `CP1254`, `ISO8859-10`, `ISO8859-11`, `CP874`, `ISO8859-13`, `CP1257`, `ISO8859-14`, `ISO8859-15`, `ISO8859-16`, `CP878`, `MacJapan`, `ASCII`, `ANSI_X3.4-1968`, `646`, `CP65000`, `CP65001`, `UTF-8-MAC`, `UTF-8-HFS`, `UCS-2BE`, `UCS-4BE`, `UCS-4LE`, `CP932`, `csWindows31J`, `SJIS`, `PCK`, `CP1250`, `CP1251`, `CP1252`, `external`, `locale`
- Default value is `"UTF-8"`

List of valid conversion types used for the convert option The character encoding used in this codec. Examples include "UTF-8" and "CP1252".

### `columns`

- Value type is [array](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#array)
- Default value is `[]`

**When decoding:** Define a list of column names (in the order they appear in the CSV, as if it were a header line). If `columns` is not configured, or there are not enough columns specified, the default column names are "column1", "column2", etc.
**When encoding:** List of fields names to include in the encoded CSV, in the order listed.

### `convert`

- Value type is [hash](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#hash)
- Default value is `{}`

Define a set of datatype conversions to be applied to columns. Possible conversions are: `integer`, `float`, `date`, `date_time`, `boolean`
**Example**
```
    filter {
      csv {
        convert => { "column1" => "integer", "column2" => "boolean" }
      }
    }
```


### `ecs_compatibility`

- Value type is [string](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#string)
- Supported values are:
  - `disabled`: CSV data added at root level
- `v1`,`v8`: Elastic Common Schema compliant behavior (`[event][original]` is also added)
- Default value depends on which version of Logstash is running:
  - When Logstash provides a `pipeline.ecs_compatibility` setting, its value is used as the default
- Otherwise, the default value is `disabled`

Controls this plugin’s compatibility with the [Elastic Common Schema (ECS)](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/ecs/current).

### `include_headers`

- Value type is [boolean](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#boolean)
- Default value is `false`

When **encoding** in an output plugin, include headers in the encoded CSV once per codec lifecyle (not for every event). Default ⇒ false

### `quote_char`

- Value type is [string](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#string)
- Default value is `"\""`

Define the character used to quote CSV fields. If this is not specified the default is a double quote `"`. Optional.

### `separator`

- Value type is [string](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#string)
- Default value is `","`

Define the column separator value. If this is not specified, the default is a comma `,`. Optional.

### `skip_empty_columns`

- Value type is [boolean](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#boolean)
- Default value is `false`

Define whether empty columns should be skipped. Defaults to false. If set to true, columns containing no value will not be included.

### `target`

- Value type is [string](/docs/reference/logstash/plugins/value-types#string)
- There is no default value for this setting.

Define the target field for placing the row values. If this setting is not set, the CSV data will be stored at the root (top level) of the event.
For example, if you want data to be put under the `document` field:
```
    input {
      file {
        codec => csv {
          autodetect_column_names => true
          target => "[document]"
        }
      }
    }
```