parse comma separated csv file with quotes in python

Question

Below i have a string which represents a single row pulled from a csv file. Each column is separated by a comma and the value is wrapped in "". What is the simplest way to parse out the value from each column in python?

"Mr","Bob","","Boberton","","President","","","","Blah, Inc. of Iowa","blah blah blah","","Grand Island","Hall County","NE","68801","7228","United States","308-111-1111","","","P.O. BOX 1111","","Grand Island","Hall County","NE","11111","1111","United States","","40.00000","-98.0000","Gasoline service stations","11111","1010101010","","","false","SINGLE_LOCATION","","","","","","","","","No","No","No","Owns","No","No","","","55.125905","","0.052369","","100","","100","0","","","1971","Low Risk","Convenience Stores & Truck Stops","1111111","1111111","111111","1111111"

The above data is all one big string that needs to be split into columns so i can get the values. I'm not asking how to load a csv file. Already got that part figured out.

Use csv. Indeed, before using csv try searching Stack Overflow for similar questions on parsing CSV since all those questions have code examples already written. — S.Lott
– S.Lott, Commented Jul 5, 2011 at 17:49

MK. · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-05 17:53:13Z

16

Python has a module for that:

http://docs.python.org/library/csv.html

import csv, sys
filename = 'some.csv'
with open(filename, 'rb') as f:
    reader = csv.reader(f)
    try:
        for row in reader:
            print row
    except csv.Error, e:
        sys.exit('file %s, line %d: %s' % (filename, reader.line_num, e))

answered Jul 5, 2011 at 17:53

MK.

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6 Comments

Sam Over a year ago

This helps, but how do I get a value from a specific column?

Fred Larson Over a year ago

@Sam: Each row is a list with one entry per column.

Kevin Horn Over a year ago

@Sam: alternatively, the csv module has a DictReader class which will read the data into a Dict

Sam Over a year ago

I am parsing the csv file using app engine's blob_reader. Each row is a string, so basically I'm wondering what regex I should use to get the values.

Sam Over a year ago

Never mind. I was able to load what app engine gave me with the csv module.

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