Ruby CSV File Parsing, Headers won't format?

Question

My rb file reads:

require "csv"
puts "Program1 initialized."

contents = CSV.open "data.csv", headers: true
contents.each do |row|
  name = row[4]
  puts name
end

...but when i run it in ruby it wont load the program. it gives me the error message about the headers:

syntax error, unexpected ':', expecting $end
contents = CSV.open "data.csv", headers: true

so I'm trying to figure out, why won't ruby let me parse this file? I've tried using other csv files I have and it won't load, and gives me an error message. I'm trying just to get the beginning of the program going! I feel like it has to do with the headers. I've updated as much as I can, mind you I'm using ruby 1.8.7. I read somewhere else that I could try to run the program in irb but it didn't seem like it needed it. so yeah... thank you in advance!!!!

The headers: true syntax doesn't work in 1.8.7, you'd want to say :headers => true. But that won't solve the whole problem because of what sammy says below. — mu is too short
– mu is too short, Commented Jan 18, 2014 at 2:27
Thanks finally got it workin. I guess I had to just update ruby :/ (noobnesss) — KnightKing
– KnightKing, Commented Jan 19, 2014 at 3:26

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:29:52Z

3

Since you are using this with Ruby 1.8.7, :headers => true won't work in this way. The simplest way to ignore the headers and get your data is to shift the first row in the data, which would be the headers:

require 'csv'
contents = CSV.open("data.csv", 'r')
contents.shift

contents.each do |row|
  name = row[4]
  puts name
end

If you do want to use the syntax with headers in ruby 1.8, you would need to use FasterCSV, something similar to this:

require 'fastercsv'

FasterCSV.foreach("data.csv", :headers => true) do |fcsv_obj|
puts fcsv_obj['name']
end

(Refer this question for further read: Parse CSV file with header fields as attributes for each row)

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:29

CommunityBot

11 silver badge

answered Jan 18, 2014 at 2:23

Sam

8946 silver badges15 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Ruby CSV File Parsing, Headers won't format?

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related