populating database from csv file using php

Design Considerations: You probably don't want to load the entire file into memory at once using a function like file_get_contents. With large files this will eat up all of your available memory and cause problems. Instead do like Adam suggested, and read one line at a time.

fgetcsv at php manual

//Here's how you would start your database connection
mysql_connect($serverName, $username, $password);
mysql_select_db('yourDBName');

//open the file as read-only
$file = fopen("file.csv", "r");

// lineLength is unlimited when set to 0
// comma delimited
while($data = fgetcsv($file, $lineLength = 0, $delimiter = ",")) {
   //You should sanitize your inputs first, using a function like addslashes
   $success = mysql_query("INSERT INTO fileTable VALUES(".$data[0].",".$data[1].")");
   if(!$success) {
     throw new Exception('failed to insert!');
   }
}

Use the built-in PHP functions to read the CSV and write an output file. Then you can import the SQL into your database. This should work with any type of database.

Don't forget to escape any strings you are using. I used sqlite_escape_string() for that purpose in this example.

$fd = fopen("mydata.csv", "r");
$fdout = fopen("importscript.sql","w");

while(!feof($fd))
{
    $line = fgetcsv($fd, 1024); // Read a line of CSV

    fwrite($fdout,'INSERT INTO mytable (id,name)'
                 .'VALUES ('.intval($line[0]).",'".sqlite_escape_string($line[1])."');\r\n";
}

fclose($fdout);
fclose($fd);