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Introduction
CSV (Comma Separated Values) is a simple file format used to store
tabular data, such as a spreadsheet or database. A CSV file stores tabular data (numbers and text) in plain text.
Each line of the file is a data record. Each record consists of one or more fields, separated by commas. For working CSV files in Python, there is an inbuilt module called CSV.
CSV is a common format for data interchange as it is compact, simple, and
general. Many online services allow their users to export tabular data from the website into a CSV file. Files of CSV will open into Excel, and nearly all databases have a tool to allow import from CSV files.
It is important to know to work with CSV because we mostly rely on CSV data in our day-to-day lives as data scientists.
The so-called CSV (Comma Separated Values) format is the most common import and export format for spreadsheets and databases. The lack of a well-defined standard means that subtle differences often exist in the data produced and consumed by different applications. These differences can make it annoying to process CSV files from multiple sources. Still, while the delimiters and quoting characters vary, the overall format is similar enough that it is possible to write a single module which can efficiently manipulate such data, hiding the details of reading and writing the data from the programmer.
The csv module’s reader and writer objects read and write sequences.
Example (A CSV File):
Structure of CSV:
We have a file named “Salary_Data.csv.” The first line of a CSV file is the header and contains the names of the fields/features. After the header, each line of the file is an observation/a record. The values of a record are separated by “comma.”
CSV File Characteristics
One line for each record
Comma separated fields
Space-characters adjacent to commas are ignored
Fields with in-built commas, double quotes are separated by double
quote characters. When Use CSV? When data has a strict tabular structure
To transfer large database between programs
To import and export data to office applications
To store, manage and modify shopping cart catalogue
Excel Vs CSV
Excel CSV It stores data along with formatting It only stores data and formulae Extension is .xls or xlsx Extension is .csv File cannot be opened with other File can be opened with other editors editors like notepad like notepad Consumes more memory Consumes less memory
Working with CSV files in Python
While we could use the built-in open() function to work with CSV files in Python, there is a dedicated csv module that makes working with CSV files much easier.
Before we can use the methods to the csv module, we need to
import the module first using: Write:
import scv
Read a CSV File
Python provides various functions to read csv file. We are describing few method of reading function.
Using csv.reader() function
In Python, the csv.reader() module is used to read the csv file. It takes each row of the file and makes a list of all the columns.
with open("C:\\Users\\Student\\Desktop\\Sample100.csv","r") as f1:
csv_read=csv.reader(f1) # csv.reader object to read the CSV file.
# Return a reader object which will iterate over lines in the given csvfile for line in csv_read:
print(line)
Note: csv.reader return a reader object which will iterate over lines in the given csvfile
Output:
Note: Read CSV file Having Tab Delimiter
import csv
with open('people.csv', 'r',) as file:
reader = csv.reader(file, delimiter = '\t')
for row in reader:
print(row)
Find total number of rows in the file
Instead of printing the data we can find out the number rows in a particular data set.
Example: import csv
with open("C:\\Users\\Student\\Desktop\\covideffects.csv","r") as f1:
csv_read=csv.reader(f1)
for line in csv_read:
pass
print("Total no. of rows: %d"%(csv_read.line_num))
Output:
Total no. of rows: 111439
Write data in CSV File
We can also write any new and existing CSV files in Python by using the csv.writer() module. It is similar to the csv.reader() module and also has two methods, i.e., writer function or the Dict Writer class.
It presents two functions, i.e., writerow() and writerows().
The writerow() function only write one row, and the writerows() function write more than one row.
Example:
import csv
with open("C:\\Users\\Student\\Desktop\\covideffects.csv","w") as f1:
