csv

Overview ¶

Package csv reads and writes comma-separated values (CSV) files. There are many kinds of CSV files; this package supports the format described in RFC 4180.

A csv file contains zero or more records of one or more fields per record. Each record is separated by the newline character. The final record may optionally be followed by a newline character.

field1,field2,field3

White space is considered part of a field.

Carriage returns before newline characters are silently removed.

Blank lines are ignored. A line with only whitespace characters (excluding the ending newline character) is not considered a blank line.

Fields which start and stop with the quote character " are called quoted-fields. The beginning and ending quote are not part of the field.

The source:

normal string,"quoted-field"

results in the fields

{`normal string`, `quoted-field`}

Within a quoted-field a quote character followed by a second quote character is considered a single quote.

"the ""word"" is true","a ""quoted-field"""

results in

{`the "word" is true`, `a "quoted-field"`}

Newlines and commas may be included in a quoted-field

"Multi-line
field","comma is ,"

results in

{`Multi-line
field`, `comma is ,`}