<s>
Symbolic	B-Operating_System
Link	I-Operating_System
(	O
SYLK	B-Operating_System
)	O
is	O
a	O
Microsoft	O
file	O
format	O
typically	O
used	O
to	O
exchange	O
data	O
between	O
applications	O
,	O
specifically	O
spreadsheets	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
SYLK	B-Operating_System
files	I-Operating_System
conventionally	O
have	O
a	O
.slk	B-Operating_System
suffix	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Composed	O
of	O
only	O
displayable	O
ANSI	O
characters	O
,	O
it	O
can	O
be	O
easily	O
created	O
and	O
processed	O
by	O
other	O
applications	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
databases	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	O
has	O
never	O
published	O
a	O
SYLK	B-Operating_System
specification	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Variants	O
of	O
the	O
format	O
are	O
supported	O
by	O
Multiplan	B-Device
,	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Excel	I-Application
,	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Works	I-Application
,	O
OpenOffice.org,	O
LibreOffice	B-Application
and	O
Gnumeric	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
commonly	O
encountered	O
(	O
and	O
spurious	O
)	O
'	O
occurrence	O
 '	O
of	O
the	O
SYLK	B-Operating_System
file	I-Operating_System
happens	O
when	O
a	O
comma-separated	O
value	O
(	O
CSV	O
)	O
format	O
is	O
saved	O
with	O
an	O
unquoted	O
first	O
field	O
name	O
of	O
'	O
ID	O
 '	O
,	O
that	O
is	O
the	O
first	O
two	O
characters	O
match	O
the	O
first	O
two	O
characters	O
of	O
the	O
SYLK	B-Operating_System
file	I-Operating_System
format	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	B-Application
Excel	I-Application
(	O
at	O
least	O
to	O
Office	O
2016	O
)	O
will	O
then	O
emit	O
misleading	O
error	O
messages	O
relating	O
to	O
the	O
format	O
of	O
the	O
file	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
"	O
The	O
file	O
you	O
are	O
trying	O
to	O
open	O
,	O
'	O
x.csv	O
'	O
,	O
is	O
in	O
a	O
different	O
format	O
than	O
specified	O
by	O
the	O
file	O
extension	O
...	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SYLK	B-Operating_System
is	O
known	O
to	O
cause	O
security	O
issues	O
,	O
as	O
it	O
allows	O
an	O
attacker	O
to	O
run	O
arbitrary	O
code	O
,	O
offers	O
the	O
opportunity	O
to	O
disguise	O
the	O
attack	O
vector	O
under	O
the	O
benign-looking	O
appearance	O
of	O
a	O
CSV	O
file	O
,	O
and	O
is	O
still	O
enabled	O
by	O
default	O
on	O
recent	O
(	O
2016	O
)	O
versions	O
of	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Excel	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
SYLK	B-Operating_System
does	O
not	O
have	O
support	O
for	O
Unicode	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Even	O
if	O
a	O
SYLK	B-Operating_System
file	I-Operating_System
is	O
created	O
by	O
an	O
application	O
that	O
supports	O
Unicode	O
(	O
for	O
example	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Excel	I-Application
)	O
,	O
the	O
SYLK	B-Operating_System
file	I-Operating_System
will	O
be	O
encoded	O
in	O
the	O
current	O
system	O
's	O
ANSI	O
code	O
page	O
,	O
not	O
in	O
Unicode	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
in	O
the	O
SYLK	B-Operating_System
file	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
semicolon	O
is	O
treated	O
as	O
a	O
field	O
separator	O
in	O
SYLK	B-Operating_System
,	O
so	O
cannot	O
be	O
used	O
unescaped	O
in	O
data	O
values	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
a	O
character	O
string	O
in	O
the	O
SYLK	B-Operating_System
file	I-Operating_System
is	O
to	O
contain	O
a	O
semicolon	O
(	O
;	O
)	O
then	O
it	O
should	O
be	O
prefixed	O
with	O
another	O
semicolon	O
so	O
the	O
string	O
would	O
appear	O
as	O
e.g.	O
,	O
"	O
WIDGET	O
;;	O
AXC1254	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MS	B-Application
Excel	I-Application
will	O
strip	O
the	O
first	O
semicolon	O
on	O
import	O
and	O
the	O
data	O
element	O
will	O
appear	O
as	O
"	O
WIDGET	O
;	O
AXC1254	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Each	O
line	O
of	O
a	O
SYLK	B-Operating_System
input	O
file	O
must	O
be	O
no	O
longer	O
than	O
260	O
characters	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Otherwise	O
,	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Excel	I-Application
will	O
issue	O
an	O
error	O
message	O
and	O
skip	O
loading	O
the	O
overlong	O
line	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
an	O
example	O
,	O
the	O
following	O
SYLK	B-Operating_System
code	O
in	O
a	O
text	O
file	O
with	O
the	O
.slk	B-Operating_System
extension	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
would	O
be	O
displayed	O
like	O
this	O
when	O
read	O
by	O
an	O
appropriate	O
spreadsheet	B-Application
:	O
</s>
<s>
would	O
be	O
displayed	O
like	O
this	O
when	O
read	O
by	O
an	O
appropriate	O
spreadsheet	B-Application
:	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
:	O
Adding	O
these	O
SYLK	B-Operating_System
codes	O
will	O
adjust	O
the	O
column	O
width	O
of	O
column	O
1	O
and	O
2	O
to	O
20	O
and	O
30	O
respectively	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
:	O
The	O
following	O
SYLK	B-Operating_System
code	O
demonstrates	O
the	O
cell	O
formatting	O
properties	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
header	O
to	O
identify	O
spreadsheet	B-Application
type	O
and	O
creator	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Tells	O
number	O
of	O
rows	O
and	O
columns	O
in	O
the	O
spreadsheet	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Excel	B-Application
cell	O
format	O
,	O
number	O
of	O
the	O
P	O
record	O
(	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
(	O
This	O
sets	O
default	O
spreadsheet	B-Application
format	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
Even	O
if	O
;	O
L	O
is	O
given	O
R1C1	O
references	O
are	O
used	O
in	O
SYLK	B-Operating_System
file	I-Operating_System
expressions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Conversion	O
to	O
unix	O
time	O
can	O
be	O
done	O
by	O
subtracting	O
the	O
difference	O
between	O
Jan	O
1	O
1970	O
and	O
Jan	O
1	O
1900	O
(	O
25,569	O
days	O
)	O
and	O
then	O
multiplying	O
by	O
86400	O
;	O
converting	O
from	O
unix	O
time	O
to	O
SYLK	B-Operating_System
datetime	O
is	O
done	O
by	O
dividing	O
the	O
value	O
by	O
86400	O
and	O
then	O
adding	O
25569	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
.slk	B-Operating_System
file	O
exports	O
opened	O
with	O
Excel	B-Application
have	O
a	O
limit	O
of	O
255	O
characters	O
in	O
a	O
cell	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
limit	O
is	O
not	O
present	O
in	O
LibreOffice	B-Application
.	O
</s>
