csv-validate: Validating CSV Parser

This JS CSV validating parser is based on csv-parse and csv-sniffer. It features data streaming, error tracing, and automatic identification of the CSV delimiters and quotes.

csv-validate provides both NodeJS module (NPM), optional console UI (CLI), and browser/Web UI for the local validation of CSV files.

\author Artem Lutov <[email protected]>
\affiliation Zazuko GmbH, Lutov Analytics
\license Apache 2

Web UI

The Web UI bundle is located in dist/ and consists of 3 files (and optional test.csv example to test the web app):

dist/
  index.html
  styles.css
  main.js

To build the Web UI, just execute npm run build from the package directory, producing the main.js bundle in dist/. Afterward, open index.html in your browser to use the web app:

CLI

Console UI provides the following interface:

$ npx csv-validate -h
Usage: csv-validate [options] <filename>

Options:
  -r, --relax-column-count   relax column count instead of emitting an error
  -s, --skip-error-lines     skip lines with errors instead of emitting an
                             error
  -d, --delimiter <symbol>   enforce specified CSV delimiter instead of
                             inferring it
  -q, --quotes <l-r-quotes>  left [and right if distinct] quote symbols instead
                             of inferring them (default: "")
  -n, --new-line <string>    enforce specified CSV new line (e.g., \r\n)
                             instead of inferring it
  -e, --encoding <string>    file encoding (default: "utf8")
  -h, --help                 display help for command

To install it, execute:

$ npm install [-g] csv-validate

Otherwise, the executable can be called from the package sources as:

$ bin/csv-validate.js -h

NodeJS Module

The module interface abstracts csv-parse and csv-sniffer.

Interface

The main interface is represented by a single function (see index.js: Parser):

static import (input: readable-stream.Readable, options: Object)

where the possible options are (see index.js: Parser constructor):

relaxColumnCount: boolean,  // Default: undefined (false)
skipLinesWithError: boolean,  // Default: undefined (false)
delimiter: string,  // Item delimiter, e.g. ',' or ' '. Default: automatically inferred
quotes: string,  // Item quotation symbol, e.g. '\'' or '"'. Default: automatically inferred
newLine: string  // A record separator, which is a newline character set, e.g., '\n' or '\n\r'. Default: automatically inferred

Usage

The interface can be used as follows:

const CsvValidatingParser = require('csv-validate"')
const { PassThrough } = require('readable-stream')

const input = new PassThrough()
input.write('key1,key2\n')
input.write('value1_1,value2_1\n')
input.write('value1_2,value2_2\n')
input.end()

CsvValidatingParser.import(input, { newLine: '\n' })

See test/interface.test.js for more examples.