processing csv files with line breaks in fields - node.js

Question

Im trying to process a csv file with line breaks (\n) inside the fields. Each field is enclosed in double quotes. Is there any node.js package that can handle this type of csv?

I tried parsing it with readline in node. It detects the lines as seperate records even though they are in the same field.

Just to be clear, is the delimiter actually a comma in your CSV? — jsejcksn
– jsejcksn, Commented May 11, 2016 at 9:13
yeah, comma delimited csvs. All the fields are enclosed in quotes. — Athul Jayson
– Athul Jayson, Commented May 12, 2016 at 12:38

Shanoor · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-12 12:59:56Z

4

csv can handle rows containing line breaks:

'use strict'

let csv = require('csv');

let str = `id;name;desc
"1";"name1";"desc
on multiple
line"
"2";"name2";"desc2"`;

csv.parse(str,
    {
        delimiter: ';', // default is ,
        columns: true,  // if the first of the csv line is headers
    },
    (err, data) => {
        if (err) console.log(err);
        console.log(JSON.stringify(data, null, 3));
    });

/* output:
[
   {
      "id": "1",
      "name": "name1",
      "desc": "desc\non multiple\nline"
   },
   {
      "id": "2",
      "name": "name2",
      "desc": "desc2"
   }
]
*/

/* without column: true
[
   [
      "id",
      "name",
      "desc"
   ],
   [
      "1",
      "name1",
      "desc\non multiple\nline"
   ],
   [
      "2",
      "name2",
      "desc2"
   ]
]
*/

edited May 12, 2016 at 12:59

answered May 11, 2016 at 9:47

Shanoor

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2 Comments

Athul Jayson Over a year ago

The output here is an array of JSON objects. I found that 'fast-csv' is another package that can handle such csvs. It supports output as String arrays, which was the format that I wanted.

Shanoor Over a year ago

@AthulJayson, if you remove column: true (or set it to false), csv also gives an array of string arrays. I updated my answer with the output without column: true.

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