Write to .csv file with PHP (Commas in Data Error) - php

Question

I am working on a PHP statement that runs a query and then writes the data to a .csv file. The problem I am having is that some of the data I am receiving from the server has commas in the data which causes for the .csv file to enter data in the wrong place. Below I have an example of the code.
$sql = "Select *
From table;"
$data = mysqli_query($link, $sql);
$row= ("Column One, Column Two, Column Three\n");
while ($result = $data->fetch_assoc()) {
$row .= ("$result[columnOne], $result[columnTwo], $result[columnThree]\n");
}
$fd = fopen("./filePath.csv", "w") or die ("Error Message");
fwrite($fd, $row);
fclose($fd);
Column three is where the data contains commas which causes for it to write to different cells in the .csv file. Is there any solution to make the $result[columnThree] data stay in one cell even though it contains commas in it?

Answer 1

You can wrap the values in double-quotes:
$row .= ('"'.$result['columnOne'].'", "'.$result['columnTwo'].'", "'.$result['columnThree'].'"\n"');
Instead of concatenating a string, I like to use arrays as much as possible:
$rawCsv = array();
while ($result = $data->fetch_assoc()) {
if (count($rawCsv) === 0)
$rawCsv[] = '"'.implode('","', array_keys($result )).'"';
$rawCsv[] = '"'.implode('","', $result ).'"';
}
$csvString = implode("\n", $rawCsv);
Both of these approaches will have a hard time with a different character in your data though -- the double quote. With that in mind, an even better alternative would be to use fopen and fputcsv to create your CSV data and you don't have to think about it.
If you plan to immediately offer the CSV data for download, you don't need a file at all, just dump it into the output butter:
ob_start();
$file_handle = fopen("php://output", 'w');
... if you do want to hang on to a file, then use fopen on the desired output file and skip the call to ob_start
Next, assemble your data:
fputcsv($file_handle, array(
'Your',
'headings',
'here'
));
while ($result = $data->fetch_assoc()) {
fputcsv($file_handle, array(
$result['Your'],
$result['data'],
$result['"here"']
));
}
fclose($file_handle);
... If you're using a file, then you're all set! If you are using the output buffer (no file used), you can grab the CSV data and send it to the browser directly:
$csv = ob_get_clean();
echo $csv; // should send headers first!
Be careful with output buffering, though, some frameworks/applications make use of it internally. If you're running in to problems with it, try using a file. If the file works, then your framework is probably already doing something with the output buffer.
Documentation
RFC 4180 Common Format and MIME Type for Comma-Separated Values (CSV) Files - https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4180
implode - http://php.net/function.implode
fopen - http://php.net/manual/en/function.fopen.php
fclose - http://php.net/manual/en/function.fclose.php
fputcsv - http://php.net/manual/en/function.fputcsv.php
ob_start - http://php.net/manual/en/function.ob-start.php
ob_get_clean - http://php.net/manual/en/function.ob-get-clean.php