Bug #13950 Updated: fgetcsv misinterprets fields containing double-quotes

ID: 13950 Updated by: derick Reported By: liamr@umich.edu Old Status: Assigned Status: Closed Bug Type: Documentation problem Operating System: Sun (SPARC) Solaris 2.6 PHP Version: 4.0.6 / 4.20cvs Old Assigned To: jeroen Assigned To: New Comment: Closing due to no feedback Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2001-11-08 17:01:30] jeroen@php.net "It's important to note that while just about everyone thinks they know what the CSV file format is, there is actually no formal definition of the format and there are many subtle differences. Here's one description of a CSV file: http://www.whatis.com/csvfile.htm " Source: http://dbi.symbolstone.org/cgi/summarydump?module=DBD::CSV That whatis link is broken, see http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci213871,00.html On several sites I encoutered the same (incomplete and vague) BNF definition, original source unknown: <CSV_file> ::= { <CSV_line> } <CSV_line> ::= <value> { "," <value> } <spaces_and_tabs> <CRLF> <value> ::= <spaces_and_tabs> ( { <any_text_except_quotas_and_commas_and_smth_else> } | <single_or_double_quote> <any_text_save_CRLF_with_corresponding_doubled_quotas> <the_same_quote> ) That's all I think... and there is some problem with this format: different database systems have different definitions of the term <any_text_except_quotas_and_commas_and_smth_else> :) [Found, amongst others, on http://myfileformats.com/search.php?name=CSV] Changed status again because of accidentel cross-update, and assigning to myself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2001-11-08 16:32:55] derick@php.net What output did you expect then from your example? Derick ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2001-11-08 16:32:16] jeroen@php.net The CSV format prescribes that fields may be enclosed in double quotes, to make it possible to have the delimiter itself part of a field. try google on CSV, to find a definition. If you find one, we'd appreciate it if you entered a link here, so we can make the documentation better. Changing to documentation bug (indeed, the docs aren't clear about this) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2001-11-08 16:22:46] liamr@umich.edu How is this /not/ a bug? It does the same thing indepentdent of delimiter. If I have a CSV file that looks like one,"two" three,four one,two" three",four one,two,three,four one,two "three" four,five and it gets read in as ('one', 'two', 'four') ('one',' two "three"', 'four') ('one', 'two', 'three', 'four') ('one', 'two "three" four', 'five') That behavoir does not match the function definition of fgetcsv in the manual. it is mishandling the data. "fgetcsv -- Gets line from file pointer and parse for CSV fields Description array fgetcsv (int fp, int length, string [delimiter]) Similar to fgets() except that fgetcsv() parses the line it reads for fields in CSV format and returns an array containing the fields read. The field delimiter is a comma, unless you specify another delimiter with the optional third parameter. " How can that possibly mean "strips off double quotes and removes subsequent data"? I'd expect it to split on the delimiter specified, and to file the resulting information into the array. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2001-11-08 15:33:14] jeroen@php.net This is exactly what fgetcsv is for (interpreting the double quotes in CSV files). Use explode if you simply want to split on tabs. No bug. --Jeroen ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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/?id=13950 Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=13950&edit=1