#29163 [Asn]: field consisting of one space char is read as an empty string by fgetcsv

ID: 29163 User updated by: ramon_herrera at eloyalty dot com Reported By: ramon_herrera at eloyalty dot com Status: Assigned Bug Type: Filesystem function related Operating System: win2k & GNU/Linux (FC2) PHP Version: 5.0.1 Assigned To: moriyoshi New Comment: Thanks to the person at "php at tntweb dot f9 dot co dot uk" for pointing to what I see is a very nice-looking doc at the creativyst.com site. Does anybody know if something like an RFC exists for CSV? If not, should we just make one for PHP and stick with it? Or should we compare CSV functions against those of other popular software applications and judge accordingly? IMPORTANT: The creativyst.com page that's linked to in the previous comment has a restrictive-looking notice at the bottom. Don't copy/redistribute that material without their permission. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2004-09-02 15:04:58] php at tntweb dot f9 dot co dot uk White space between fields should be ignored, so the field ..., ,... should be returned as an empty string and not a single space. The latest PHP 4 version breaks this and returns a single space. To include leading or trailing spaces then they must be quoted. For further info read http://www.creativyst.com/Doc/Articles/CSV/CSV01.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2004-08-13 08:12:12] ramon_herrera at eloyalty dot com IMO, correctness trumps backwards compatibility in this case, especially since pre-4.3.4 was so long ago. Compatibility with something that was broken is not a persuasive argument. If a single space char is what a CSV field is comprised of, then, IMO, that is exactly how it should be represented in this function's result. Must there be quotes? Backslash escapes? What else is needed? Moriyoshi, what do your colleagues believe? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2004-08-13 07:16:39] ramon_herrera at eloyalty dot com This bug shows up in version 5.0.1 under Fedora Core 2. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2004-08-12 08:25:01] ramon_herrera at eloyalty dot com The bug still shows up in CVS php5-200408120430 under Fedora Core 2. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2004-08-04 08:33:33] ramon_herrera at eloyalty dot com Is this bug destined to be fixed in a later release? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The remainder of the comments for this report are too long. To view the rest of the comments, please view the bug report online at http://bugs.php.net/29163 -- Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=29163&edit=1