Example JavaScript code to parse CSV data

Question

Where could I find some JavaScript code to parse CSV data?

Answer 1

Here's an extremely simple CSV parser that handles quoted fields with commas, new lines, and escaped double quotation marks. There's no splitting or regular expression. It scans the input string 1-2 characters at a time and builds an array.

Test it at http://jsfiddle.net/vHKYH/.

function parseCSV(str) {
    var arr = [];
    var quote = false;  // 'true' means we're inside a quoted field

    // Iterate over each character, keep track of current row and column (of the returned array)
    for (var row = 0, col = 0, c = 0; c < str.length; c++) {
        var cc = str[c], nc = str[c+1];        // Current character, next character
        arr[row] = arr[row] || [];             // Create a new row if necessary
        arr[row][col] = arr[row][col] || '';   // Create a new column (start with empty string) if necessary

        // If the current character is a quotation mark, and we're inside a
        // quoted field, and the next character is also a quotation mark,
        // add a quotation mark to the current column and skip the next character
        if (cc == '"' && quote && nc == '"') { arr[row][col] += cc; ++c; continue; }

        // If it's just one quotation mark, begin/end quoted field
        if (cc == '"') { quote = !quote; continue; }

        // If it's a comma and we're not in a quoted field, move on to the next column
        if (cc == ',' && !quote) { ++col; continue; }

        // If it's a newline (CRLF) and we're not in a quoted field, skip the next character
        // and move on to the next row and move to column 0 of that new row
        if (cc == '\r' && nc == '\n' && !quote) { ++row; col = 0; ++c; continue; }

        // If it's a newline (LF or CR) and we're not in a quoted field,
        // move on to the next row and move to column 0 of that new row
        if (cc == '\n' && !quote) { ++row; col = 0; continue; }
        if (cc == '\r' && !quote) { ++row; col = 0; continue; }

        // Otherwise, append the current character to the current column
        arr[row][col] += cc;
    }
    return arr;
}