diff --git a/crates/coremem/src/meas.rs b/crates/coremem/src/meas.rs
index e766e2f..7d581f2 100644
--- a/crates/coremem/src/meas.rs
+++ b/crates/coremem/src/meas.rs
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ impl Measurement {
         &self.name
     }
 
-    pub fn str_value(&self) -> String {
+    pub fn pretty_print(&self) -> String {
         use MeasurementValue::*;
         match self.value {
             Field(v) => format!("{}{}", v, self.unit),
@@ -87,6 +87,18 @@ impl Measurement {
         }
     }
 
+    /// format the Measurement in a way that could be parseable later.
+    /// one major use case for this is in dumping the type to a CSV.
+    pub fn machine_readable(&self) -> String {
+        use MeasurementValue::*;
+        match self.value {
+            Field(v) => format!("{},{},{}", v.x(), v.y(), v.z()),
+            Float(f) => f.to_string(),
+            Int(u)   => u.to_string(),
+            Dim(v)   => format!("{},{},{}", v.x(), v.y(), v.z()),
+        }
+    }
+
     /// retrieve the float value of this measurement -- if it's of float type.
     /// useful for tests
     pub fn get_float(&self) -> Option<f32> {
diff --git a/crates/coremem/src/render.rs b/crates/coremem/src/render.rs
index 53df5d3..7ae7e46 100644
--- a/crates/coremem/src/render.rs
+++ b/crates/coremem/src/render.rs
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ impl<'a, S: AbstractSim> RenderSteps<'a, S> {
     }
     fn render_measurements(&mut self) {
         for (meas_no, m) in meas::eval_multiple(self.sim, &self.meas).into_iter().enumerate() {
-            let meas_string = m.str_value();
+            let meas_string = m.pretty_print();
             for (i, c) in meas_string.chars().enumerate() {
                 let glyph = BASIC_FONTS.get(c)
                     .or_else(|| GREEK_FONTS.get(c))
@@ -454,7 +454,7 @@ impl<S: AbstractSim> Renderer<S> for ColorTermRenderer {
         for m in measurements {
             // Measurements can be slow to compute
             stdout.flush().unwrap();
-            let meas_string = m.str_value();
+            let meas_string = m.pretty_print();
             stdout.queue(cursor::MoveDown(1)).unwrap();
             stdout.queue(cursor::MoveToColumn(1)).unwrap();
             stdout.queue(PrintStyledContent(style(meas_string))).unwrap();
@@ -739,7 +739,7 @@ impl<S: AbstractSim> Renderer<S> for CsvRenderer {
             },
             CsvState::Writing(writer) => writer,
         };
-        writer.write_record(row.iter().map(|m| m.str_value())).unwrap();
+        writer.write_record(row.iter().map(|m| m.machine_readable())).unwrap();
         writer.flush().unwrap();
         *lock = Some(CsvState::Writing(writer));
     }
diff --git a/crates/post/src/bin/csv.rs b/crates/post/src/bin/csv.rs
index d29007f..a400259 100644
--- a/crates/post/src/bin/csv.rs
+++ b/crates/post/src/bin/csv.rs
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ fn main() {
 
     loop {
         for meas in frame.measurements() {
-            print!("\"{}\",", meas.str_value());
+            print!("\"{}\",", meas.machine_readable().replace(",", "\\,"));
         }
         println!("");