NAME
::csv - Procedures to handle CSV data
SYNOPSIS
package require csv ?0.1?
::csv::join values {sepChar ,}
::csv::joinlist values {sepChar ,}
::csv::read2matrix chan m {sepChar ,}
::csv::read2queue chan q {sepChar ,}
::csv::report cmd matrix ?chan?
::csv::split line {sepChar ,}
::csv::split2queue q line {sepChar ,}
::csv::writematrix m chan {sepChar ,}
::csv::writequeue q chan {sepChar ,}
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DESCRIPTION
The ::csv package provides commands to manipulate informa
tion in CSV format (CSV = Comma Separated Values).
COMMANDS
The following commands are available:
::csv::join values {sepChar ,}
Takes a list of values and returns a string in CSV
format containing these values. The separator char
acter can be defined by the caller, but this is
optional. The default is ",".
::csv::joinlist values {sepChar ,}
Takes a list of lists of values and returns a
string in CSV format containing these values. The
separator character can be defined by the caller,
but this is optional. The default is ",". Each ele
ment of the outer list is considered a record,
these are separated by newlines in the result. The
elements of each record are formatted as usual (via
::csv::join).
::csv::read2matrix chan m {sepChar ,}
A wrapper around ::csv::split2matrix (see below)
reading from CSV-formatted lines from the specified
matrix.
::csv::read2queue chan q {sepChar ,}
A wrapper around ::csv::split2queue (see below)
reading from CSV-formatted lines from the specified
channel (until EOF) and adding it to the given
queue.
::csv::report cmd matrix ?chan?
A report command which can be used by the matrix
methods format 2string and format 2chan. For the
latter this command delegates the work to
::csv::writematrix. cmd is expected to be either
"printmatrix" or "printmatrix2channel". The channel
argument, chan, has to be present for the latter
and must not be present for the first.
::csv::split line {sepChar ,}
converts a line in CSV format into a list of the
values contained in the line. The character used to
separate the values from each other can be defined
by the caller, via sepChar, but this is optional.
The default is ",".
::csv::split2matrix m line {sepChar ,}
The same as ::csv::split, but appends the resulting
list as a new row to the matrix m, using the method
add row. It is the responsibility of the caller to
ensure that the matrix has enough columns to con
tain the full line. If there are not enough columns
the list of values is silently truncated at the end
to fit.
::csv::split2queue q line {sepChar ,}
The same as ::csv::split, but appending the result
ing list as a single item to the queue q, using the
method put.
::csv::writematrix m chan {sepChar ,}
A wrapper around ::csv::join taking all rows in the
matrix m and writing them CSV formatted into the
channel chan.
::csv::writequeue q chan {sepChar ,}
A wrapper around ::csv::join taking all items in
the queue q (assumes that they are lists) and writ
ing them CSV formatted into the channel chan.
FORMAT
Each record of a csv file (comma-separated values, as
exported e.g. by Excel) is a set of ASCII values separated
by ",". For other languages it may be ";" however,
although this is not important for this case (The
If a value contains itself the separator ",", then it (the
value) is put between "".
If a value contains ", it is replaced by "".
EXAMPLE
The record
* 123,"123,521.2","Mary says ""Hello, I am Mary"""
is parsed as follows:
a) 123
b) 123,521.2
c) Mary says "Hello, I am Mary"
SEE ALSO
KEYWORDS
csv
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