PHP to CSV line break issue

Question

I use the following code to get data from a form and save it as csv.

$cvsData = $name . "," . $address . "\n";

$fp = fopen("file.csv", "a");

if ($fp) {
    fwrite($fp, $cvsData); // Write information to the file
    fclose($fp); // Close the file
}

When someone enters a comma or line break in address field it breaks the formatting. So how can i escape it so that the whole address stays in the same field ?

start using PHP's built-in fputcsv() functions for writing csv files rather than building your own $cvsData line... then, at least, you don't need to worry about commas in your data — Mark Baker
– Mark Baker, Commented Feb 10, 2012 at 7:28

danorton · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-10 06:04:36Z

5

Put each data item inside quotation marks. A pair of quotation marks inside a quoted value signifies a single quotation mark. e.g.

"Daniel Norton","Congress Ave.
Austin (""Keeping it weird""), TX"

Referring to your example:

$data = str_replace('"','""',$data);
$address = str_replace('"','""',$address);
$cvsData = "\"$data\",\"$address\"\n";

Better still, just use the PHP function fputcsv.

fputcsv($fp,array($data,$address));

edited Feb 10, 2012 at 6:04

answered Feb 10, 2012 at 4:46

danorton

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1 Comment

danorton Over a year ago

I have added more detail, using your example.

Petah · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-10 04:48:02Z

0

CSV is totally dependent on the software used to read it.

Have a look at http://www.csvreader.com/csv_format.php for some details on how certain programs expect CSV data.

I have created a CSV class that can handle most of these situations. You might want to have a look at it.

https://gist.github.com/1786683

And to answer your question, using that class you could

$csv = CSV::newExcel();
$cvsData = $csv->row($name, $address);
// etc...

edited Feb 10, 2012 at 4:48

answered Feb 10, 2012 at 4:42

Petah

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