SQL & PL/SQL :: Inserting Tabs (ASCII 009) In Output

I'm looking for a way to insert tabs (ASCII 009) in SQL output, to make the output file Excel-ready without manual intervention.

Here's what I need :

SQL> set output myfile.xls;
SQL> select article,TAB,count(*) from sales group by article having count(*) > 0;

Instead of TAB I can insert a dollar sign, but then I have to replace it using a file editor, which is a manual operation. I have been looking for an OpenVMS application which can replace all dollar signs by tabs in a given file, with no luck.

I created a DCL procedure (simplified from GSR.COM which I found on the internet) that reads every record in the output file and substitutes dollar signs by tabs, but it doesn't work with tabs, only with "normal" characters.

Even if I use the OpenVMS editor to insert ASCII 009 tab characters in the SQL statement (using the GOLD 009 GOLD SPEC INS key combination), SQL apparently automatically substitutes tabs by full stop signs in the output :

select article,' ',date from werknemers limit to 2 rows;
ARTICLE DATE
TROUSERS . 12-28-1974
SHIRTS . 10-08-1973
2 rows selected

I can use SQL to create a CSV file (comma separated values) which can be opened by Excel :

"trousers",20
"shirts",30

But the user has to open this file from within Excel and make a number of choices (separator, text delimiter, header row) before (s)he gets to see the desired columnar spreadsheet. That's not automation : I need the generated SQL output file to be double-clickable so that it opens as a columnar spreadsheet immediately.