How to read 'List separator' from OS in Java?

Question

I am writing a CSV exporter in Java that should respect the user\'s custom settings, especially the \"List separator\" to use as a delimiter.

In Windows, one can set

Answer 1

I faced the same problem and also found out that the only proper solution is to provide a way to the user to specify the "delimiter of choice".

However, if that is not possible, as it was in my case, the closest I could get to cross-platfrom, cross-locale support is the following:

• guess the separators you need to use using DecimalFormatSymbols
• add a line at the beginning of the CSV containing, for example "sep=," (without quotes), this should specify the list separator you've just guessed

This will, at least in most cases (the cases I have tested), force Excel to use that delimiter, even if you "guessed wrong" and will provide at least a little bit more compatibility.