> [!tldr] CSV, JSON, and a folder of Markdown files are mostly interchangeable With some gotchas and given a couple conventions, you can convert between [[JSON]], [[CSV]], and [[Markdown]]. > [!warning] Interoperability Issues > ![[Interchangeable Plaintext Data Forms 2026-08-13 11.15.38.excalidraw.svg]] %%[[Interchangeable Plaintext Data Forms 2026-08-13 11.15.38.excalidraw.md|🖋 Edit in Excalidraw]]%% > Each data format has its own issues to work through. These are just some of them. ## Example The same 2 items in all forms: ### Markdown **One.md** ```markdown --- status: published date: "2026-08-13" rating: 3 --- This is the body. ``` **Two.md** ```markdown --- status: draft date: "2026-08-12" ready: false --- The body is here. ``` #### Issues: - Multiple files required - File name must exist, and can be ambiguous - I use `_name` for this - File body, if it exists, can be ambiguous - I use `_body` for this ### JSON Specifically this is [[JSONL]]. ```jsonl { "status": "published", "date": "2026-08-13", "rating": 3, "_body": "This is the body." "_name": "One" } { "status": "draft", "date": "2026-08-12", "ready": false, "_body": "The body is here." "_name": "Two" } ``` #### Issues: - How do you choose to structure successive entities? - I prefer [[JSONL]] for this ### CSV ```csv _name, _body, status, date, rating, ready One, This is the body., published, 2026-08-13, 3,, Two, The body is here., draft, 2026-08-12,,false ``` #### Issues: - Typing issues for [[Boolean Logic]] & numbers - Sparsity if many keys are involved - Escaping commas and newlines properly **** # More ## Source - self