Parsing a .csv file

Hi all,

I know parsing a comma-separated value file should be easy:
@array = split /,/;  # just split the line on commas

However, my input csv file looks like this:
Name,"street,city,state,zip",phone,email,"comments, may have commas, 2"

Note, not all fields have quotes, only those which contain commas have
quotes.

Even if I could get the input revised to split the address into several
different fields (which I know would be a good idea), the comments remain a
problem.

I can solve the problem using the substr function to examine the incoming
text char by char, replacing commas outside quotes with something else
(tabs), and leaving commas inside quotes, then splitting the line on tabs:

	$len = length ();
	for ($in_quotes=$i=0; $i<$len; $i++) {
		if (substr($_,$i,1) eq "," and !$in_quotes) {
			substr($_,$i,1) = "\t";
		} elsif (substr($_,$i,1) eq '"') {
			substr($_,$i,1)= " ";
			if ($in_quotes) {$in_quotes = 0;}
			else {$in_quotes = 1;}
		}
	}
	@infields = split /\t/;

This has got to be the slowest most inelegant way possible, but I don't see
another.  Is there a better way?

Thanks,
Steve

• Parsing a .csv file by Steven Arbitman
• RE: Parsing a .csv file by Timothy Johnson
• RE: Parsing a .csv file by Richard Smith
• Re: Parsing a .csv file by Michael Fowler
• Re: Parsing a .csv file by Dave Benware