Often tsv (tab-separated values) is the safest format for manipulating data, at least when convenience is a priority. Bash can work with these with ease, simply by modifying the IFS variable.
To process a two-column tsv:
IFS_OLD=$IFS IFS='{tab}' while read first second; do echo first=$first, second=$second done <two_col.tsv IFS=$IFS_OLD
where {tab} is entered by <ctrl>+<v>,<tab>
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