Make country values consistent before importing
Turn a mixed column of country names and codes into one consistent format. Choose common-English names, two-letter codes, three-letter codes or three-digit numeric codes from the 249-entry countries dataset. Official names and reviewed common or historical aliases are accepted as input. Ambiguous names remain visible for you to resolve, while blank rows and original order stay intact. Use the output in a spreadsheet or application without sending your text or files to a server.
Country codes in everyday data
Prepare alpha-2 codes for a database
Input
Turkey Côte d’Ivoire Curacao USA
Result
TR CI CW US
Names with or without accents match the same entry. Reviewed alternatives map to the current ISO codes, without guessing from similar spellings.
Keep numeric codes three digits long
Input
Afghanistan 4 004
Result
004 004 004
Numeric input can omit leading zeros. Output always restores three digits; use a text-formatted spreadsheet column to retain them.
Review uncertain and historical values
Input
Korea Congo England Zaire
Result
Korea Congo England CD
Korea and Congo have multiple candidates. England has no separate ISO country code. Zaire converts to CD with a historical-name note. Unresolved values stay unchanged by default.
How to standardize country names and codes
- Paste one country value per line, or open a UTF-8 text file. Input formats can be mixed.
- Select names, alpha-2, alpha-3 or numeric output. Choose a single converted column or original-and-converted tab-separated pairs.
- Read the review panel before using the result. It shows candidate countries, special-code notes and values that could not be matched.
- Copy or download the converted text. Keep original row order for spreadsheet work, or choose a next step to sort, remove duplicates or compare lists.
Country conversion questions
Why is Korea not converted automatically?
Korea could mean South Korea (KR) or North Korea (KP). The tool lists both candidates and keeps your original value unless you choose blank output. Congo, Virgin Islands and former codes with multiple successors receive the same treatment.
Why does Excel drop the zeros from 004?
Excel can interpret numeric-looking values as numbers. Format the destination column as Text before pasting, or import the file with that column set to text. The converter itself always outputs numeric ISO codes as three digits.
Which names appear in name output?
Output uses the datasets’ common-English names, such as Turkey, Ivory Coast, Czech Republic and Cape Verde. ISO short and official forms are accepted as input; the bare name Congo remains ambiguous. Names are not rewritten when generating the browser snapshot.
Why are England and Kosovo unmatched?
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are parts of the United Kingdom (GB) without separate ISO country codes. Kosovo has no ISO 3166-1 code; XK is a user-assigned code used by the EU and others. The review panel explains these cases.
Explicit aliases, never a guess
The bundled reference is a reviewed snapshot, not a live country service. There is no fuzzy matching, transliteration or address validation. Former codes can have multiple successors. Currency and calling codes are outside this tool. Up to 250,000 lines fit within the shared limits; the first 500 review rows are retained, while counts and converted output cover the full input.