dbf2csv

A streaming, low-memory CLI that converts dBASE / FoxPro DBF files to CSV.

It reads the DBF format directly. It does not use VFPOLEDB or any OLE DB provider. Index files (.cdx, .idx) are ignored. FoxPro memo files (.fpt) are opened only when a table has memo fields.

Requirements

• .NET 10 SDK to build
• A published dbf2csv.exe does not require .NET on the target machine

Build and run

dotnet run --project src/Dbf2Csv -- customer.dbf -o customer.csv

Publish a standalone Windows executable (self-contained single file):

dotnet publish src/Dbf2Csv -c Release -r win-x64 -o publish

The output is publish/dbf2csv.exe. Other runtimes use the same command with a different -r (win-arm64, linux-x64, osx-arm64).

The published command name is dbf2csv.

Usage

dbf2csv <inputs...> [-o|--output <path>] [--encoding <name>] [--delimiter <char>] [--include-deleted] [--null <text>]

Option	Default	Description
inputs	required	One or more .dbf files or globs (customer.dbf, *.dbf). Globs are expanded by the tool so they work in PowerShell and cmd.
-o, --output	{name}.csv in the current directory	Single input: a CSV file path or a directory. Multiple inputs: a directory. Each input name.dbf becomes name.csv.
--encoding	DBF language-driver byte, else windows-1252	Encoding used to decode character and memo fields. Output CSV is always UTF-8 (no BOM).
--delimiter	,	CSV field separator. Use a single character, or \t for tab.
--include-deleted	off	Include records whose deletion flag is *. Deleted records are skipped by default.
--null	empty string	Token written for blank numeric, date, logical (?), and empty memo fields.

Exit code 0 means every file converted. A missing file, unreadable header, missing .fpt for memo fields, or -o file used with multiple inputs returns 1.

Examples

dbf2csv customer.dbf -o E:\exports\customer.csv

dbf2csv *.dbf -o E:\exports

dbf2csv customer.dbf --encoding windows-1252

dbf2csv customer.dbf --delimiter ","

dbf2csv customer.dbf --include-deleted

dbf2csv customer.dbf --null ""

Progress is printed per file:

customer.dbf -> E:\exports\customer.csv (1234 rows)

Supported DBF versions

Signature	Format
0x03	FoxBASE+ / dBASE III PLUS, no memo
0x83	FoxBASE+ / dBASE III PLUS, with memo
0x8B	dBASE IV with memo
0x30 / 0x31 / 0x32	Visual FoxPro
0xF5	FoxPro 2.x with memo

Unknown signatures fail with the hex value.

Field types

Type	CSV value
C	Character, trailing spaces trimmed
V	Visual FoxPro varchar
N / F	Numeric / float as stored (padding removed)
I	32-bit integer
B	IEEE double
Y	Currency (integer / 10000)
L	true / false
D	yyyy-MM-dd
T	yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss
M	FoxPro FPT text memo (4-byte binary or 10-byte ASCII block pointer)
0	VFP null-flags column; used to mark other fields null, not written to CSV

Blank numeric/date values, ? logicals, and memo pointer 0 use the --null token. Character fields that are only spaces become an empty string (unless a VFP null flag marks them null).

CSV values that contain the delimiter, ", or a newline are quoted per RFC 4180.

Memos and indexes

• .fpt is required when the table has memo / general / picture / blob fields (M, G, P, W). The expected path is the DBF path with a .fpt extension. If that file is missing, conversion fails with the expected path.
• Text memos (FPT type 1) are decoded with the same encoding as character fields. Non-text memo blocks are written as null.
• dBASE .dbt memo files are not supported.
• .cdx and .idx files are ignored.

Tests

dotnet test

License

MIT