Provided by: tcllib_1.21+dfsg-1_all bug

NAME

       csv - Procedures to handle CSV data.

SYNOPSIS

       package require Tcl  8.4

       package require csv  ?0.8.1?

       ::csv::iscomplete data

       ::csv::join values ?sepChar? ?delChar? ?delMode?

       ::csv::joinlist values ?sepChar? ?delChar? ?delMode?

       ::csv::joinmatrix matrix ?sepChar? ?delChar? ?delMode?

       ::csv::read2matrix ?-alternate? chan m {sepChar ,} {expand none}

       ::csv::read2queue ?-alternate? chan q {sepChar ,}

       ::csv::report cmd matrix ?chan?

       ::csv::split ?-alternate? line ?sepChar? ?delChar?

       ::csv::split2matrix ?-alternate? m line {sepChar ,} {expand none}

       ::csv::split2queue ?-alternate? q line {sepChar ,}

       ::csv::writematrix m chan ?sepChar? ?delChar?

       ::csv::writequeue q chan ?sepChar? ?delChar?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION

       The  csv  package  provides  commands to manipulate information in CSV FORMAT (CSV = Comma
       Separated Values).

COMMANDS

       The following commands are available:

       ::csv::iscomplete data
              A predicate checking if the argument data is a complete csv record. The result is a
              boolean  flag  indicating  the  completeness of the data. The result is true if the
              data is complete.

       ::csv::join values ?sepChar? ?delChar? ?delMode?
              Takes a list of values and returns a string in CSV format containing these  values.
              The  separator  character  can  be defined by the caller, but this is optional. The
              default is ",". The quoting aka delimiting character can be defined by the  caller,
              but  this  is optional. The default is '"'.  By default the quoting mode delMode is
              "auto", surrounding values with delChar only when  needed.  When  set  to  "always"
              however, values are always surrounded by the delChar instead.

       ::csv::joinlist values ?sepChar? ?delChar? ?delMode?
              Takes a list of lists of values and returns a string in CSV format containing these
              values. The separator character can be defined by the caller, but this is optional.
              The default is ",". The quoting character can be defined by the caller, but this is
              optional. The default is '"'.  By default  the  quoting  mode  delMode  is  "auto",
              surrounding  values  with  delChar  only when needed. When set to "always" however,
              values are always surrounded by the delChar instead.  Each  element  of  the  outer
              list  is  considered  a  record, these are separated by newlines in the result. The
              elements of each record are formatted as usual (via ::csv::join).

       ::csv::joinmatrix matrix ?sepChar? ?delChar? ?delMode?
              Takes a matrix object following the API specified for  the  struct::matrix  package
              and returns a string in CSV format containing these values. The separator character
              can be defined by the caller, but this is optional. The default is ",". The quoting
              character  can  be defined by the caller, but this is optional. The default is ยด"'.
              By default the quoting mode delMode is "auto", surrounding values with delChar only
              when  needed.  When  set  to  "always" however, values are always surrounded by the
              delChar instead.  Each row  of  the  matrix  is  considered  a  record,  these  are
              separated  by  newlines in the result. The elements of each record are formatted as
              usual (via ::csv::join).

       ::csv::read2matrix ?-alternate? chan m {sepChar ,} {expand none}
              A wrapper around ::csv::split2matrix (see below) reading CSV-formatted  lines  from
              the  specified  channel  (until  EOF)  and  adding them to the given matrix. For an
              explanation of the expand argument see ::csv::split2matrix.

       ::csv::read2queue ?-alternate? chan q {sepChar ,}
              A wrapper around ::csv::split2queue (see below) reading  CSV-formatted  lines  from
              the specified channel (until EOF) and adding them to the given queue.

       ::csv::report cmd matrix ?chan?
              A  report command which can be used by the matrix methods format 2string and format
              2chan. For the latter this command delegates the work to ::csv::writematrix. cmd is
              expected  to  be  either  printmatrix or printmatrix2channel. The channel argument,
              chan, has to be present for the latter and must not be present for the first.

       ::csv::split ?-alternate? line ?sepChar? ?delChar?
              converts a line in CSV format into a list of the values contained in the line.  The
              character used to separate the values from each other can be defined by the caller,
              via sepChar, but this is optional. The default is ",". The quoting character can be
              defined by the caller, but this is optional. The default is '"'.

              If  the option -alternate is specified a slightly different syntax is used to parse
              the input. This syntax is explained below, in the section FORMAT.

       ::csv::split2matrix ?-alternate? m line {sepChar ,} {expand none}
              The same as ::csv::split, but appends the resulting list as a new row to the matrix
              m, using the method add row. The expansion mode specified via expand determines how
              the command handles a matrix with less columns than contained in line. The  allowed
              modes are:

              none   This  is  the  default  mode.  In  this mode it is the responsibility of the
                     caller to ensure that the matrix has enough  columns  to  contain  the  full
                     line.  If  there  are  not  enough  columns  the  list of values is silently
                     truncated at the end to fit.

              empty  In this mode the command expands an empty matrix to hold all columns of  the
                     specified line, but goes no further. The overall effect is that the first of
                     a series of lines determines the number of columns in  the  matrix  and  all
                     following lines are truncated to that size, as if mode none was set.

              auto   In  this  mode  the command expands the matrix as needed to hold all columns
                     contained in line. The overall effect is that after adding a series of lines
                     the  matrix will have enough columns to hold all columns of the longest line
                     encountered so far.

       ::csv::split2queue ?-alternate? q line {sepChar ,}
              The same as ::csv::split, but appending the resulting list as a single item to  the
              queue q, using the method put.

       ::csv::writematrix m chan ?sepChar? ?delChar?
              A  wrapper  around ::csv::join taking all rows in the matrix m and writing them CSV
              formatted into the channel chan.

       ::csv::writequeue q chan ?sepChar? ?delChar?
              A wrapper around ::csv::join taking all items in the queue q (assumes that they are
              lists) and writing them CSV formatted into the channel chan.

FORMAT

       The format of regular CSV files is specified as

       [1]    Each  record of a csv file (comma-separated values, as exported e.g. by Excel) is a
              set of ASCII values separated by ",". For other languages it may  be  ";"  however,
              although  this  is not important for this case as the functions provided here allow
              any separator character.

       [2]    If and only if a value contains itself the separator ",", then it (the  value)  has
              to  be  put  between "". If the value does not contain the separator character then
              quoting is optional.

       [3]    If a value contains the character ", that character is represented by "".

       [4]    The output string "" represents the value ". In other words, it is assumed that  it
              was created through rule 3, and only this rule, i.e. that the value was not quoted.

       An alternate format definition mainly used by MS products specifies that the output string
       "" is a representation of the empty string. In other words, it is assumed that the  output
       was generated out of the empty string by quoting it (i.e. rule 2), and not through rule 3.
       This is the only difference between the regular and the alternate format.

       The alternate format is activated through specification of the option  -alternate  to  the
       various split commands.

EXAMPLE

       Using the regular format the record

              123,"123,521.2","Mary says ""Hello, I am Mary""",""

       is parsed into the items

              a) 123
              b) 123,521.2
              c) Mary says "Hello, I am Mary"
              d) "

       Using the alternate format the result is

              a) 123
              b) 123,521.2
              c) Mary says "Hello, I am Mary"
              d) (the empty string)

       instead. As can be seen only item (d) is different, now the empty string instead of a ".

BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK

       This  document,  and  the  package  it  describes, will undoubtedly contain bugs and other
       problems.   Please  report  such  in   the   category   csv   of   the   Tcllib   Trackers
       [http://core.tcl.tk/tcllib/reportlist].  Please also report any ideas for enhancements you
       may have for either package and/or documentation.

       When proposing code changes, please provide unified diffs, i.e the output of diff -u.

       Note further that attachments are strongly preferred over inlined patches. Attachments can
       be  made  by going to the Edit form of the ticket immediately after its creation, and then
       using the left-most button in the secondary navigation bar.

SEE ALSO

       matrix, queue

KEYWORDS

       csv, matrix, package, queue, tcllib

CATEGORY

       Text processing

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 2002-2015 Andreas Kupries <andreas_kupries@users.sourceforge.net>