python csv not parsing delimiter

Question

I am trying to do a simple csv parsing using python, I have the following code:

print csvdata
print "\n"
csvparsed = csv.reader(csvdata)

for row in csvparsed:
    print row

However, it seems that each row of the parsed data is a single character and not separated by the commas. Am I missing something here? This is the output I'm getting:

Restaurant ID,2,,
,,,
Menu Name,Breakfast Menu,,

['R']
['e']
['s']
['t']
['a']
['u']
['r']
['a']
['n']
['t']
[' ']
['I']
['D']
['', '']
['2']
['', '']
['', '']
[]
['', '']
['', '']
['', '']
[]
['M']
['e']
['n']
['u']
[' ']
['N']
['a']
['m']
['e']
['', '']
['B']
['r']
['e']
['a']
['k']
['f']
['a']
['s']
['t']
[' ']
['M']
['e']
['n']
['u']
['', '']
['', '']

Ned Batchelder · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-03 01:24:09Z

4

csv.reader is meant to be given an iterator over lines of text, which is how an open file works. You gave it a string, which produces characters when you iterate it. If you are getting the data from a file, simply give the open file to csv.reader, don't read the text first.

If you really do already have the text in a string, then use this:

csv.reader(csvdata.splitlines())

answered Jun 3, 2012 at 1:24

Ned Batchelder

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Comments

jaschac · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-03 01:36:25Z

0

This might be closer to what you're trying to do:

csvparsed = csv.reader(open('csvdata', 'r'))

for row in csvparsed:
    print row

With this, and your sample data in a file, I get this output:

['Restaurant ID', '2', '', '']
['', '', '', '']
['Menu Name', 'Breakfast Menu', '', '']

answered Jun 3, 2012 at 1:36

jaschac

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1 Comment

swoosh Over a year ago

my problem was that the data is already in the form of a string and not in a file

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