[php] How to create an array from a CSV file using PHP and the fgetcsv function

Can someone kindly provide a code to create an array from a CSV file using fgetcsv?

I've used the following code to create an array from a simple CSV file, but it doesn't work right when one of my fields has multiple commas - such as addresses.

$lines =file('CSV Address.csv');

foreach($lines as $data)
{
list($name[],$address[],$status[])
= explode(',',$data);
}

*Also, str_getcsv is not supported by my hosting service.

The above code doesn't work with the following CSV file example. First column is name, second column is address, third column is marital status.

Scott L. Aranda,"123 Main Street, Bethesda, Maryland 20816",Single
Todd D. Smith,"987 Elm Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22301",Single
Edward M. Grass,"123 Main Street, Bethesda, Maryland 20816",Married
Aaron G. Frantz,"987 Elm Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22301",Married
Ryan V. Turner,"123 Main Street, Bethesda, Maryland 20816",Single

This question is related to php arrays csv

The answer is


Try this..

function getdata($csvFile){
    $file_handle = fopen($csvFile, 'r');
    while (!feof($file_handle) ) {
        $line_of_text[] = fgetcsv($file_handle, 1024);
    }
    fclose($file_handle);
    return $line_of_text;
}


// Set path to CSV file
$csvFile = 'test.csv';

$csv = getdata($csvFile);
echo '<pre>';
print_r($csv);
echo '</pre>';

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => Project
            [1] => Date
            [2] => User
            [3] => Activity
            [4] => Issue
            [5] => Comment
            [6] => Hours
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [0] => test
            [1] => 04/30/2015
            [2] => test
            [3] => test
            [4] => test
            [5] => 
            [6] => 6.00
        ));

Old question, but still relevant for PHP 5.2 users. str_getcsv is available from PHP 5.3. I've written a small function that works with fgetcsv itself.

Below is my function from https://gist.github.com/4152628:

function parse_csv_file($csvfile) {
    $csv = Array();
    $rowcount = 0;
    if (($handle = fopen($csvfile, "r")) !== FALSE) {
        $max_line_length = defined('MAX_LINE_LENGTH') ? MAX_LINE_LENGTH : 10000;
        $header = fgetcsv($handle, $max_line_length);
        $header_colcount = count($header);
        while (($row = fgetcsv($handle, $max_line_length)) !== FALSE) {
            $row_colcount = count($row);
            if ($row_colcount == $header_colcount) {
                $entry = array_combine($header, $row);
                $csv[] = $entry;
            }
            else {
                error_log("csvreader: Invalid number of columns at line " . ($rowcount + 2) . " (row " . ($rowcount + 1) . "). Expected=$header_colcount Got=$row_colcount");
                return null;
            }
            $rowcount++;
        }
        //echo "Totally $rowcount rows found\n";
        fclose($handle);
    }
    else {
        error_log("csvreader: Could not read CSV \"$csvfile\"");
        return null;
    }
    return $csv;
}

Returns

Begin Reading CSV

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [vid] => 
            [agency] => 
            [division] => Division
            [country] => 
            [station] => Duty Station
            [unit] => Unit / Department
            [grade] => 
            [funding] => Fund Code
            [number] => Country Office Position Number
            [wnumber] => Wings Position Number
            [title] => Position Title
            [tor] => Tor Text
            [tor_file] => 
            [status] => 
            [datetime] => Entry on Wings
            [laction] => 
            [supervisor] => Supervisor Index Number
            [asupervisor] => Alternative Supervisor Index
            [author] => 
            [category] => 
            [parent] => Reporting to Which Position Number
            [vacant] => Status (Vacant / Filled)
            [index] => Index Number
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [vid] => 
            [agency] => WFP
            [division] => KEN Kenya, The Republic Of
            [country] => 
            [station] => Nairobi
            [unit] => Human Resources Officer P4
            [grade] => P-4
            [funding] => 5000001
            [number] => 22018154
            [wnumber] => 
            [title] => Human Resources Officer P4
            [tor] => 
            [tor_file] => 
            [status] => 
            [datetime] => 
            [laction] => 
            [supervisor] => 
            [asupervisor] => 
            [author] => 
            [category] => Professional
            [parent] => 
            [vacant] => 
            [index] => xxxxx
        )
) 

$arrayFromCSV =  array_map('str_getcsv', file('/path/to/file.csv'));

I came up with this pretty basic code. I think it could be useful to anyone.

$link = "link to the CSV here"
$fp = fopen($link, 'r');

while(($line = fgetcsv($fp)) !== FALSE) {
    foreach($line as $key => $value) {
        echo $key . " - " . $value . "<br>";
    }
}


fclose($fp);

If you want each line to be in an array, and each cell in the line in array:

$file = fopen('csvFile.csv', 'r');              // Open the file                     
while (($line = fgetcsv($file)) !== FALSE) {    // Read one line
    $array[] =$line;                            // Add the line in the main array
}
echo '<pre>';
print_r($array);   //print it out
echo '</pre>'; 
fclose($file);

This function will return array with Header values as array keys.

function csv_to_array($file_name) {
        $data =  $header = array();
        $i = 0;
        $file = fopen($file_name, 'r');
        while (($line = fgetcsv($file)) !== FALSE) {
            if( $i==0 ) {
                $header = $line;
            } else {
                $data[] = $line;        
            }
            $i++;
        }
        fclose($file);
        foreach ($data as $key => $_value) {
            $new_item = array();
            foreach ($_value as $key => $value) {
                $new_item[ $header[$key] ] =$value;
            }
            $_data[] = $new_item;
        }
        return $_data;
    }

I think the str_getcsv() syntax is much cleaner, it also doesn't require the CSV to be stored in the file system.

$csv = str_getcsv(file_get_contents('myCSVFile.csv'));

echo '<pre>';
print_r($csv);
echo '</pre>';

Or for a line by line solution:

$csv = array();
$lines = file('myCSVFile.csv', FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES);

foreach ($lines as $key => $value)
{
    $csv[$key] = str_getcsv($value);
}

echo '<pre>';
print_r($csv);
echo '</pre>';

Or for a line by line solution with no str_getcsv():

$csv = array();
$file = fopen('myCSVFile.csv', 'r');

while (($result = fgetcsv($file)) !== false)
{
    $csv[] = $result;
}

fclose($file);

echo '<pre>';
print_r($csv);
echo '</pre>';

To get an array with the right keys, you can try this:

// Open file
$file = fopen($file_path, 'r');

// Headers
$headers = fgetcsv($file);

// Rows
$data = [];
while (($row = fgetcsv($file)) !== false)
{
    $item = [];
    foreach ($row as $key => $value)
        $item[$headers[$key]] = $value ?: null;
    $data[] = $item;
}

// Close file
fclose($file);

convertToArray(file_get_content($filename));

function convertToArray(string $content): array
{
   $data = str_getcsv($content,"\n");
   array_walk($data, function(&$a) use ($data) {
       $a = str_getcsv($a);
   });

   return $data;
}

Please fin below a link to the function from @knagode, enhanced with a skip rows parameter. https://gist.github.com/gabrieljenik/47fc38ae47d99868d5b3#file-csv_to_array

<?php
    /**
     * Convert a CSV string into an array.
     * 
     * @param $string
     * @param $separatorChar
     * @param $enclosureChar
     * @param $newlineChar
     * @param $skip_rows
     * @return array
     */
    public static function csvstring_to_array($string, $skip_rows = 0, $separatorChar = ';', $enclosureChar = '"', $newlineChar = "\n") {
        // @author: Klemen Nagode 
        // @source: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1269562/how-to-create-an-array-from-a-csv-file-using-php-and-the-fgetcsv-function
        $array = array();
        $size = strlen($string);
        $columnIndex = 0;
        $rowIndex = 0;
        $fieldValue="";
        $isEnclosured = false;
        for($i=0; $i<$size;$i++) {

            $char = $string{$i};
            $addChar = "";

            if($isEnclosured) {
                if($char==$enclosureChar) {

                    if($i+1<$size && $string{$i+1}==$enclosureChar){
                        // escaped char
                        $addChar=$char;
                        $i++; // dont check next char
                    }else{
                        $isEnclosured = false;
                    }
                }else {
                    $addChar=$char;
                }
            }else {
                if($char==$enclosureChar) {
                    $isEnclosured = true;
                }else {

                    if($char==$separatorChar) {

                        $array[$rowIndex][$columnIndex] = $fieldValue;
                        $fieldValue="";

                        $columnIndex++;
                    }elseif($char==$newlineChar) {
                        echo $char;
                        $array[$rowIndex][$columnIndex] = $fieldValue;
                        $fieldValue="";
                        $columnIndex=0;
                        $rowIndex++;
                    }else {
                        $addChar=$char;
                    }
                }
            }
            if($addChar!=""){
                $fieldValue.=$addChar;

            }
        }

        if($fieldValue) { // save last field
            $array[$rowIndex][$columnIndex] = $fieldValue;
        }


        /**
         * Skip rows. 
         * Returning empty array if being told to skip all rows in the array.
         */ 
        if ($skip_rows > 0) {
            if (count($array) == $skip_rows)
                $array = array();
            elseif (count($array) > $skip_rows)
                $array = array_slice($array, $skip_rows);           

        }

        return $array;
    }

Try this code:

function readCsv($file)
{
    if (($handle = fopen($file, 'r')) !== FALSE) {
        while (($lineArray = fgetcsv($handle, 4000)) !== FALSE) {
            print_r(lineArray);
        }
        fclose($handle);
    }
}

 function csvToArray($path)
{
    try{
        $csv = fopen($path, 'r');
        $rows = [];
        $header = [];
        $index = 0;
        while (($line = fgetcsv($csv)) !== FALSE) {
            if ($index == 0) {
                $header = $line;
                $index = 1;
            } else {
                $row = [];
                for ($i = 0; $i < count($header); $i++) {
                    $row[$header[$i]] = $line[$i];
                }
                array_push($rows, $row);
            }
        }
        return $rows;
    }catch (Exception $exception){
        return false;
    }
}

I have created a function which will convert a csv string to an array. The function knows how to escape special characters, and it works with or without enclosure chars.

$dataArray = csvstring_to_array( file_get_contents('Address.csv'));

I tried it with your csv sample and it works as expected!

function csvstring_to_array($string, $separatorChar = ',', $enclosureChar = '"', $newlineChar = "\n") {
    // @author: Klemen Nagode
    $array = array();
    $size = strlen($string);
    $columnIndex = 0;
    $rowIndex = 0;
    $fieldValue="";
    $isEnclosured = false;
    for($i=0; $i<$size;$i++) {

        $char = $string{$i};
        $addChar = "";

        if($isEnclosured) {
            if($char==$enclosureChar) {

                if($i+1<$size && $string{$i+1}==$enclosureChar){
                    // escaped char
                    $addChar=$char;
                    $i++; // dont check next char
                }else{
                    $isEnclosured = false;
                }
            }else {
                $addChar=$char;
            }
        }else {
            if($char==$enclosureChar) {
                $isEnclosured = true;
            }else {

                if($char==$separatorChar) {

                    $array[$rowIndex][$columnIndex] = $fieldValue;
                    $fieldValue="";

                    $columnIndex++;
                }elseif($char==$newlineChar) {
                    echo $char;
                    $array[$rowIndex][$columnIndex] = $fieldValue;
                    $fieldValue="";
                    $columnIndex=0;
                    $rowIndex++;
                }else {
                    $addChar=$char;
                }
            }
        }
        if($addChar!=""){
            $fieldValue.=$addChar;

        }
    }

    if($fieldValue) { // save last field
        $array[$rowIndex][$columnIndex] = $fieldValue;
    }
    return $array;
}

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