What is the difference between `sep` and `delimiter` attributes in pandas.read_csv() method?

delimiter, pandas, python

Solution

Confirmation that they are the same thing can be found in the source code:

# Alias sep -> delimiter.
if delimiter is None:
    delimiter = sep

I agree with the other answer that it is best to stick to `sep`. It seems to be more commonly used, and it is more consistent with other functions such as `to_csv`, which does not accept `delimiter`, only `sep`.

Problem

What is the difference between `sep` and `delimiter` attributes in `pandas.read_csv()` method? Also what is the situation when I would choose one over the other? In documentation I read something about Python builtin sniffer tool, also in delimiter, it says alternative argument name for sep, then why cant we have only one attribute?

Original source