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Home » How to combine/merge multiple CSV/Excel files for Mac

combine csvs for mac
  • SEO

How to combine/merge multiple CSV/Excel files for Mac

  • Devin Schumacher
  • December 27, 2019
  • 8 Comments

In SEO we are always dealing with CSVs – combining, cleaning, analyzing – you name it.

In this article (and video) I will show you how to quickly & easily combine and merge multiple CSV files into one CSV file for free on a Mac.

Follow along, and start combining!

If you have multiple CSV or Excel files that you need combined, follow this simple process to get them combined in a flash, using the built in “terminal” on your Mac.

Step 1 – Create a new folder

Create a new folder on your Desktop & put all of your CSV files into the folder.

I will call mine “combine”.

It will look like this:

Caution: Everything in this folder will be combined.

Step 2 – Open Terminal

The program “Terminal” is located in your “Applications” folder under “Utilities”

Applications > Utilities > Terminal

Open Terminal.

It will look like this:

Step 3 – Print Working Directory

This is a fancy name. Don’t worry about it, just follow the steps.

1. Type: "pwd"
2. Hit enter

It will look like this:

“PWD” means “Print Working Directory”. It simply is showing you what “directory” (aka folder”) the Terminal has selected. Don’t worry about it. Just keep following along.

Step 4 – Choose the folder you created

Set your “directory” to the folder you created that has your CSV files in it.

1. Type: "cd /Users/devin/Desktop/combine"
2. Hit enter

Note: you will need to change your file path so it matches your username & folder name

Step 5 – Merge the files

Now you are ready to merge your files.

1. Type: "cat *.csv >combined.csv"
2. Hit enter

It will look like this:

Step 6 – Check your folder

If you followed along correctly, you are done!

Inside your folder there will be a file called “combined.csv”

It will look like this:

Final Thoughts

If you need help with your digital marketing, web hosting, or other services please contact us.

If you want to learn more SEO tips & strategies to help your workflow, improve your team’s efficiency/productivity, and bring more traffic to your website join us at: SERP University.

Devin Schumacher

Devin Schumacher

Devin is one of the world's top search engine optimization experts, and the Founder of SERP Co.

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  • 8 Comments

8 thoughts on “How to combine/merge multiple CSV/Excel files for Mac”

  1. Karl
    April 13, 2020 at 6:06 am

    Thanks Devin. I wasn’t expecting an article like this here, but it is helpful. You can never have too many useful articles for Apple users.

    Reply
  2. Barbara
    April 26, 2020 at 2:32 pm

    Thanks! R newbie here, going crazy trying to do this in R… figured there had to be a better way. Probably obvious to most, but non-.csv files (.roi in my case) are ignored, so may not have to make a special file first.

    Reply
  3. Schalk Joubert
    April 26, 2020 at 11:06 pm

    Hi Devin,
    This is super helpful, thank you!
    I know I can simply delete duplicate values in excel, but is there a simple way of excluding headers?
    Thank you.

    Reply
    1. Devin Schumacher
      April 28, 2020 at 5:21 pm

      I am working on a faster solution to this right now, but what I do is apply a filter to the entire sheet, and then ‘sort a-z’ by one of the header terms (so they all get grouped together at the top) and then delete all but 1

      Reply
  4. Andy Grant
    April 30, 2020 at 1:34 pm

    Exactly what I needed. Thank you for the clear instructions. It worked without a hitch.

    ~Andy

    Reply
  5. Dez
    June 2, 2020 at 4:55 am

    Hi Devin,
    Newbie at this. Very frustrating at the moment. After setting the directory and I hit enter, I get a message saying no such file or directory. What am I doing wrong?
    Dez

    Reply
  6. Michael Wood
    June 17, 2020 at 2:07 pm

    Hi Devin,
    Thanks for publishing this article. The instructions worked perfect for my needs.

    Reply
    1. Devin Schumacher
      June 19, 2020 at 9:09 am

      You are welcome 🙂

      Reply

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