Use python to format/insert comma into data lines

Question

I have a regularly appended CSV file with two types of similar data. I can't control how the data come into the CSV - but I want to execute a python script that will format the CSV so that I can ingest it into a database. Here is what I want to do:

Incoming raw data look like this:

record, date & time, sensor, height, status

record, date & time, sensor, height, weight, status

The idea would be to just take these data iteratively add a comma after height if no weight or something like that. Essentially mimic a blank field so that the data would essentially look like this:

record, date & time, sensor, height, **weight,**status (updated after python script if/then)

record, date & time, sensor, height, weight, status

Hopefully that makes sense - Basically adding a field and I would run the script every time the file is updated.

Do You care about csv escaping and quotes?

oleg
– oleg

2013-10-22 14:33:28 +00:00
Commented Oct 22, 2013 at 14:33 — oleg
– oleg, Commented Oct 22, 2013 at 14:33

Steven Rumbalski · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-22 14:36:42Z

2

import csv
import os
with open('yourfile.csv') as f_in, open('yourfile.csv.temp') as f_out:
    reader = csv.reader(f_in)
    writer = csv.writer(f_out)
    for row in reader:
        if len(row) == 5:
            row.insert(4, '')
        writer.writerow(row)
os.rename('yourfile.csv.temp', 'yourfile.csv')

answered Oct 22, 2013 at 14:36

Steven Rumbalski

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