How to use TAB as column separator in SQLCMD

Question

SQLCMD supports the -s parameter to specify the column separator, but I couldn\'t figure how how to represent the tab (CHAR(9)) character. I have tried the following but bo

Answer 1

tldr: use ALT+009 the ascii tab code for the separator character

In the example, replace {ALTCHAR} with ALT+009 (hold the ALT key and enter the digits 009)

sqlcmd -E -d tempdb -W -s "{ALTCHAR}" -o junk.txt -Q "select 1 c1,2 c2,3 c3"

Edit junk.txt. Tabs will be between columns.

For other command line options:

sqlcmd -?

Note: The shell converts the ALT char to ^I, but if you try the command by typing -s "^I", you won't get the same results.