csvsync

Read and write .csv files in node synchronously.

Basic Usage

Read (parse)

var csvsync = require('csvsync');
var fs = require('fs');

var csv = fs.readFileSync('in_file.csv');
var data = csvsync.parse(csv);

// 'data' now contains an array of arrays parsed from in_file.csv

Options

All options are optional. Example:

var data = csvsync.parse(csv, {
    skipHeader: true,
    returnObject: true,
    headerKeys: ['column1', 'column2'],
    delimiter: ';',
    trim: true
});

• skipHeader: Boolean

Ignores the first line of input.

• returnObject: Boolean

Instead of the default array return value, returns an object with keys constructed from the first row. Implies skipHeader.

• headerKeys: array

Allows to provide own keys for the returned object. Useful when the header is human-readable or non-existent and you still want to get an object instead of an array. Valid only in returnObject: true mode.

• removeFieldQuote: Char

If provided, strips the char from the beginning/end of each field. This is useful for e.g. working with broken .csv files which have unquoted quotes in fields. For example:

"Lorem ipsum dolor","sit "amet" consectetur","adipiscing elit sed"

In order to parse that correctly, provide removeFieldQuote: '"' and the doouble quotes around fields will be stripped before parsing, leaving the desired content of column B above as sit "amet" consectetur.

• unquotedFields: Boolean

Assume fields are not quoted and thus any quotes inside fields (even at the beginning) should land in the data. E.g. input .csv:

abc,"def",ghi

will yield the following output array

['abc', '"def"', 'ghi']

• trim: Boolean

Trim whitespace around input values.

Write (stringify)

Complete example:

var csvsync = require('csvsync');
var fs = require('fs');

var data = [
    ['this', 'is', 'row', 1],
    ['and', 'foo "bar" baz', 'is', 'here'],
];

var csv = csvsync.stringify(data);
fs.writeFileSync('out_file.csv', csv);

// out_file.csv now contains:
//
// this,is,row,1
// and,"foo ""bar"" baz",is,here

Options

The csvsync.stringify function accepts an optional second parameter – an object with options. Currently, two options are supported: delimiter (',' by default) and quoteAll (false by default).

Installation

$ npm install csvsync --save

Rationale

Often when writing utility scripts in node one needs to read or write .csv files. Most npm packages do it asynchronously in one way or another (callbacks, promises, streams). For use cases where, in two lines of code, you just want to load or save a .csv file from/to a javascript array or object, this package is a good solution.

About

Does one thing and does it good. It won't read or write files and/or convert from JSON. But it will properly escape .csvs during writing and correctly handle escaped fields when reading.

Since there is no definitive .csv spec, it follows the rule:

Fields containing line breaks (CRLF), double quotes, and commas should be enclosed in double-quotes.

http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4180, section 2.2.

It works with Linux, Mac and Windows line endings.

Tests

Run the test suite (requires tape and tap-spec, so make sure to install dev dependencies):

$ export NODE_ENV=dev
$ npm install
$ npm test

License

ISC