Re: [RFC] CSV Extension (ext/csv)

On Fri, Oct 9, 2026 at 8:22 AM Damian Jóźwiak <damian.jozwiak.lodz@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hi internals, > > I'd like to open the discussion on an RFC proposing a dedicated CSV > extension (ext/csv) for PHP core. > > RFC: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/csv_extension > > Implementation: https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/24199 > > The proposal builds upon Gina Peter Banyard's girgias/csv extension > (BSD-3-Clause), with additional functionality for file and stream handling. > > The motivation includes the deprecation of the SplFileObject CSV methods > in PHP 8.6, which leaves certain use cases without a direct replacement. > > The proposed extension provides: > > - > > Six functions and one class in the Csv\ namespace. > - > > RFC 4180-compatible parsing and serialization by default. > - > > Locale-independent processing without the proprietary escape mechanism.. > - > > Multibyte delimiters, enclosures, and EOL sequences. > - > > Strict and lax collection parsing. > - > > Lazy iteration over CSV files and streaming output. > > The implementation includes PHPT tests covering parsing, serialization, > stream handling, resource lifetime, and various edge cases. > > The pull request's CI checks are currently passing across the tested > platforms, including debug, ZTS, and AddressSanitizer configurations. > > The initial API is deliberately kept small. A more comprehensive > object-oriented Reader/Writer API, including capability-oriented > interfaces, is left for potential future discussion. > > I'd particularly appreciate feedback on the public API design, the naming > of LazyLaxCollection, and whether the extension should be always enabled > or optional at build time. > > For transparency, Gina has not reviewed or endorsed this RFC. Parts of the > implementation were developed with LLM assistance; I have reviewed the code > and take full responsibility for the contribution. > > This is an invitation for discussion, not a call for votes. > > Thanks in advance for your feedback. > > Best regards, > Damian Jóźwiak > I see that there's no support for open streams/resources, would that be something worth adding? I don't want to have to write things to a file before I can start processing them if I already have an open stream. Same goes for reading, I don't want to have to read everything before passing it somewhere, often having it as a resource is more useful to me. About LazyLaxCollection, what does Lax mean here?