Example JavaScript code to parse CSV data

Question

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

Answer 1

csvToArray v1.3

A compact (645 bytes), but compliant function to convert a CSV string into a 2D array, conforming to the RFC4180 standard.

https://code.google.com/archive/p/csv-to-array/downloads

Common Usage: jQuery

 $.ajax({
        url: "test.csv",
        dataType: 'text',
        cache: false
 }).done(function(csvAsString){
        csvAsArray=csvAsString.csvToArray();
 });

Common usage: JavaScript

csvAsArray = csvAsString.csvToArray();

Override field separator

csvAsArray = csvAsString.csvToArray("|");

Override record separator

csvAsArray = csvAsString.csvToArray("", "#");

Override Skip Header

csvAsArray = csvAsString.csvToArray("", "", 1);

Override all

csvAsArray = csvAsString.csvToArray("|", "#", 1);

Answer 2

jQuery-CSV

It's a jQuery plugin designed to work as an end-to-end solution for parsing CSV into JavaScript data. It handles every single edge case presented in RFC 4180, as well as some that pop up for Excel/Google spreadsheet exports (i.e., mostly involving null values) that the specification is missing.

Example:

track,artist,album,year

Dangerous,'Busta Rhymes','When Disaster Strikes',1997

// Calling this
music = $.csv.toArrays(csv)

// Outputs...
[
  ["track", "artist", "album", "year"],
  ["Dangerous", "Busta Rhymes", "When Disaster Strikes", "1997"]
]

console.log(music[1][2]) // Outputs: 'When Disaster Strikes'

Update:

Oh yeah, I should also probably mention that it's completely configurable.

music = $.csv.toArrays(csv, {
  delimiter: "'", // Sets a custom value delimiter character
  separator: ';', // Sets a custom field separator character
});

Update 2:

It now works with jQuery on Node.js too. So you have the option of doing either client-side or server-side parsing with the same library.

Update 3:

Since the Google Code shutdown, jquery-csv has been migrated to GitHub.

Disclaimer: I am also the author of jQuery-CSV.

Answer 3

I'm not sure why I couldn't get Kirtan's example to work for me. It seemed to be failing on empty fields or maybe fields with trailing commas...

This one seems to handle both.

I did not write the parser code, just a wrapper around the parser function to make this work for a file. See attribution.

    var Strings = {
        /**
         * Wrapped CSV line parser
         * @param s      String delimited CSV string
         * @param sep    Separator override
         * @attribution: http://www.greywyvern.com/?post=258 (comments closed on blog :( )
         */
        parseCSV : function(s,sep) {
            // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1155678/javascript-string-newline-character
            var universalNewline = /\r\n|\r|\n/g;
            var a = s.split(universalNewline);
            for(var i in a){
                for (var f = a[i].split(sep = sep || ","), x = f.length - 1, tl; x >= 0; x--) {
                    if (f[x].replace(/"\s+$/, '"').charAt(f[x].length - 1) == '"') {
                        if ((tl = f[x].replace(/^\s+"/, '"')).length > 1 && tl.charAt(0) == '"') {
                            f[x] = f[x].replace(/^\s*"|"\s*$/g, '').replace(/""/g, '"');
                          } else if (x) {
                        f.splice(x - 1, 2, [f[x - 1], f[x]].join(sep));
                      } else f = f.shift().split(sep).concat(f);
                    } else f[x].replace(/""/g, '"');
                  } a[i] = f;
        }
        return a;
        }
    }

Answer 4

Here's my simple vanilla JavaScript code:

let a = 'one,two,"three, but with a comma",four,"five, with ""quotes"" in it.."'
console.log(splitQuotes(a))

function splitQuotes(line) {
  if(line.indexOf('"') < 0) 
    return line.split(',')

  let result = [], cell = '', quote = false;
  for(let i = 0; i < line.length; i++) {
    char = line[i]
    if(char == '"' && line[i+1] == '"') {
      cell += char
      i++
    } else if(char == '"') {
      quote = !quote;
    } else if(!quote && char == ',') {
      result.push(cell)
      cell = ''
    } else {
      cell += char
    }
    if ( i == line.length-1 && cell) {
      result.push(cell)
    }
  }
  return result
}

Answer 5

Just use .split(','):

var str = "How are you doing today?";
var n = str.split(" ");

Answer 6

I have constructed this JavaScript script to parse a CSV in string to array object. I find it better to break down the whole CSV into lines, fields and process them accordingly. I think that it will make it easy for you to change the code to suit your need.

    //
    //
    // CSV to object
    //
    //

    const new_line_char = '\n';
    const field_separator_char = ',';

    function parse_csv(csv_str) {

        var result = [];

        let line_end_index_moved = false;
        let line_start_index = 0;
        let line_end_index = 0;
        let csr_index = 0;
        let cursor_val = csv_str[csr_index];
        let found_new_line_char = get_new_line_char(csv_str);
        let in_quote = false;

        // Handle \r\n
        if (found_new_line_char == '\r\n') {
            csv_str = csv_str.split(found_new_line_char).join(new_line_char);
        }
        // Handle the last character is not \n
        if (csv_str[csv_str.length - 1] !== new_line_char) {
            csv_str += new_line_char;
        }

        while (csr_index < csv_str.length) {
            if (cursor_val === '"') {
                in_quote = !in_quote;
            } else if (cursor_val === new_line_char) {
                if (in_quote === false) {
                    if (line_end_index_moved && (line_start_index <= line_end_index)) {
                        result.push(parse_csv_line(csv_str.substring(line_start_index, line_end_index)));
                        line_start_index = csr_index + 1;
                    } // Else: just ignore line_end_index has not moved or line has not been sliced for parsing the line
                } // Else: just ignore because we are in a quote
            }
            csr_index++;
            cursor_val = csv_str[csr_index];
            line_end_index = csr_index;
            line_end_index_moved = true;
        }

        // Handle \r\n
        if (found_new_line_char == '\r\n') {
            let new_result = [];
            let curr_row;
            for (var i = 0; i < result.length; i++) {
                curr_row = [];
                for (var j = 0; j < result[i].length; j++) {
                    curr_row.push(result[i][j].split(new_line_char).join('\r\n'));
                }
                new_result.push(curr_row);
            }
            result = new_result;
        }
        return result;
    }

    function parse_csv_line(csv_line_str) {

        var result = [];

        //let field_end_index_moved = false;
        let field_start_index = 0;
        let field_end_index = 0;
        let csr_index = 0;
        let cursor_val = csv_line_str[csr_index];
        let in_quote = false;

        // Pretend that the last char is the separator_char to complete the loop
        csv_line_str += field_separator_char;

        while (csr_index < csv_line_str.length) {
            if (cursor_val === '"') {
                in_quote = !in_quote;
            } else if (cursor_val === field_separator_char) {
                if (in_quote === false) {
                    if (field_start_index <= field_end_index) {
                        result.push(parse_csv_field(csv_line_str.substring(field_start_index, field_end_index)));
                        field_start_index = csr_index + 1;
                    } // Else: just ignore field_end_index has not moved or field has not been sliced for parsing the field
                } // Else: just ignore because we are in quote
            }
            csr_index++;
            cursor_val = csv_line_str[csr_index];
            field_end_index = csr_index;
            field_end_index_moved = true;
        }
        return result;
    }

    function parse_csv_field(csv_field_str) {
        with_quote = (csv_field_str[0] === '"');

        if (with_quote) {
            csv_field_str = csv_field_str.substring(1, csv_field_str.length - 1); // remove the start and end quotes
            csv_field_str = csv_field_str.split('""').join('"'); // handle double quotes
        }
        return csv_field_str;
    }

    // Initial method: check the first newline character only
    function get_new_line_char(csv_str) {
        if (csv_str.indexOf('\r\n') > -1) {
            return '\r\n';
        } else {
            return '\n'
        }
    }