Fixed-width (positional) files have data in specific column positions rather than delimiters. Common in mainframe systems, COBOL programs, banking exports, government data, and legacy business applications from the 1960s-2000s.

No. All processing happens locally in your browser. Your data never leaves your device. Perfect for sensitive mainframe or financial data.

Enter the starting position (1-based) and width for each field. For example: Name at position 1, width 16; Date at position 17, width 8. The position ruler helps identify boundaries.

Look for documentation (copybook, record layout, spec sheet) that came with the data. Or use the position ruler to count character positions and identify patterns in the sample data.

The ruler shows position numbers every 10 characters with markers every 5 characters. This helps you visually count where each field starts and how wide it is.

Yes. Use the field definitions from your COBOL copybook to set start positions and widths. The converter handles character and numeric fields from COBOL data files.

All field values are automatically trimmed to remove leading and trailing spaces, which is standard for fixed-width data where fields are often padded with spaces.

Fields containing only spaces become empty values in the CSV. This preserves the data structure while cleaning up the output.

Yes, but be aware that report headers, footers, and formatting lines should be removed first. This tool works best with pure data records, not formatted reports.

The tool handles lines of any length. Mainframe files with 80, 132, or even 256-character records all work. The ruler adjusts to your data.

Column Definitions

Raw Data Preview (with position ruler)

Parsed Preview

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