How to refine this parsing-csv regexp in php to parse comma in string value?

Question

I am using the answer of joker83 in this question: Regular expression for parsing CSV in PHP but I find it can't parse csv string whose field value containing comma correctly. Is it possible to refine this regexp to solve this problem?

Explanation of the pattern from joker83: /,(?=(?:[^\"])*(?![^\"]))/.
1. ,(?=x) means a comma that follows a pattern x.
2. [^\"] means some character other than double quote.
3.(?:[^\"]) means match the parenthesis-ed subpattern but don't capture it into matched resulting array.
4. * means 0 or more of the specified pattern.
5.(x)* means 0 or more of the pattern x.
6. y?![^\"] means a y that NOT follows some character not double quote(i.e. matching y that follows a dobule quote)
7. The whole meaning is matching a comma that follows a double quote (where * means zero ) or matching a comma that follows 1 or more of characters other than double quote and these characters follows a double quote.

As you can see, if the csv string is 120,"I love ""Lexi Belle"", ""Proxy Paige""","good stuff", then when apply this regexp in preg_split, we will get 4 fields (i.e. 120 """I Love Lexi Bell"" ""Proxy Piage""" **"good stuff"**)rather than the correct 3 fields.

Note: I'm using PHP5.2.6 (can't upgrade to new version since I spent a lot of time to install a oci8 that can read Oracle 8i on Windows. I can't install them correctly again in new version of PHP).
Note: I can't use fgetcsv() either since the input csv file contains LF code in csv string and fgetcsv() will split the newline in the middle of that field.

"I am using the answer of joker83 in this question", you should not. — Casimir et Hippolyte
– Casimir et Hippolyte, Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 14:31
As my notes show, his answer is best suitable one for my case then. — Scott Chu
– Scott Chu, Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 14:44

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 10:27:04Z

0

You can use this regex:

/,(?=([^\"]*\"[^\"]*\")*[^\"]*$)/

Which is found from this stackoverflow entry Java: splitting a comma-separated string but ignoring commas in quotes (but for java).

On your string it gives:

array(3) {
  [0]=>
  string(3) "120"
  [1]=>
  string(31) ""I love Lexi Bell, Proxy Paige""
  [2]=>
  string(12) ""good stuff""
}

Note that you still have the '"' on them.

edited May 23, 2017 at 10:27

CommunityBot

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answered Oct 13, 2015 at 14:38

hexasoft

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1 Comment

Scott Chu Over a year ago

Thanks! This is what I need. I accept this as the best answer.

Mihai Matei · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-13 14:31:52Z

0

Why don't you use str_getcsv?

$string = '120,"I love Lexi Bell, Proxy Paige","good stuff"';
$parsedCsv = str_getcsv($string);
print_r($parsedCsv);

answered Oct 13, 2015 at 14:31

Mihai Matei

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