Reading CSV file data in PHP - php

Question

I'm trying to create a page which pulls infoprmation from a CSV file, using PHP.
It should then populate a product list with the information.
This is the CSV file:
The code I have is as follows:
$file = file('data-example.csv');
$line = array("name", "id","price", "description");
foreach($file as $line) {
$csv = explode('//',$line);
$item = $csv;
print_r($item);
This is currently printing out the whole of the array. I'd like to know how I can access the individual nodes on the array, so that I could include them as variables within an HTML table.
Thanks
Ali
To amplify, and respond to the replies (thanks!):
This is the amended code, using fgetcsv:
if (($handle = fopen("data.csv", "r")) !== FALSE) {
while (($data = fgetcsv($handle, 1000, ",")) !== FALSE) {
echo($data[1][1]);
}
fclose($handle);
}
This seems to work, but returns the column contents. This is the data (data.csv):
"Dandelion","30","13.99","Dandelion 30 "
"Daisy","40","20.99","Daisy 40 "
"Cress","27","10.99","Cress 27 "
"Coral","17","6.99","Coral 17 ",
"Honeysuckle","40","17.99","Honeysuckle 40 "
"Rose","27","9.99","Rose 27"
"
(there's a new line at dandelion, Daisy,Cress,Coral,Honeysuckle and Rose)
When I try echo($data[1]); it gets the whole column as described, i.e 30 40 27 17 40 27 but echo($data[1][1]); returns "342142", and echo($data[1][1][1]); creates an error.
I don't understand it as this is an array?
Thanks
Ali

Answer 1

You should use native php functions to read csv files, such as str_getcsv
Something like:
$Data = str_getcsv($CsvString, "\n"); //parse the rows
foreach($Data as &$Row){
$Row = str_getcsv($Row, ";"); //parse the items in rows
}
Alternatively you can use fgetcsv that parses the line it reads for fields in CSV format and returns an array containing the fields read, i.e.:
<?php
$row = 1;
if (($handle = fopen("test.csv", "r")) !== FALSE) {
while (($data = fgetcsv($handle, 1000, ",")) !== FALSE) {
$num = count($data);
echo "<p> $num fields in line $row: <br /></p>\n";
$row++;
for ($c=0; $c < $num; $c++) {
echo $data[$c] . "<br />\n";
}
}
fclose($handle);
}
?>