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I have a CSV file where columns are separated using a non-standard symbol (||/).

df = pd.read_csv('data_analyst_assignment.csv',sep='||/', engine='python')

This throws an error:

ParserError: Expected 61 fields in line 3, saw 68. Error could possibly be due to quotes being ignored when a multi-char delimiter is used.

Can you please help me how to read this file?

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  • No knowing even data structure, how one can diagnose the problem? Commented Aug 16, 2020 at 20:44
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    Try \|\|/ and tell us (escape pipe) Commented Aug 16, 2020 at 20:45
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    looks like you have 61 columns, but in line 3 you have 68 values. If you could share a sample dataset, that would be helpful to diagnose the problem. Commented Aug 16, 2020 at 20:47
  • Thank you azro it worked! So, @ipj you do not need the know the data structure, huh? Commented Aug 16, 2020 at 21:01
  • I've set down an answer so ;) Commented Aug 17, 2020 at 6:15

1 Answer 1

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From .read_csv()

sep:str, default ‘,’ : Delimiter to use. ... In addition, separators longer than 1 character and different from '\s+' will be interpreted as regular expressions and will also force the use of the Python parsing engine.

And | is special char in regex grammar (means OR) so you need to escape it, so you need

df = pd.read_csv('data_analyst_assignment.csv',sep='\|\|/', engine='python')
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