CSV encoding php - php

Question

Here's the problem i need to post a .csv file from one server to another.
I do this by reading the contents of the .csv file and sending that with curl as post data.
This is working without problems.
But then when i try to parse the data and store it in a table in the database the trouble begins.
I have all the variables in a array, if i print this array it displays correctly.
But if i echo a value from that array i get all kinds of weird characters.
My best guess is it has something to do with the encoding of the csv file but i wouldnt have a clue how to fix that.
here's the function i use to parse the csv data:
public function parseCsv($data)
{
$quote = '"';
$newline = "\n";
$seperator = ';';
$dbQuote = $quote . $quote;
// Clean up file
$data = trim($data);
$data = str_replace("\r\n", $newline, $data);
$data = str_replace($dbQuote,'"', $data);
$data = str_replace(',",', ',,', $data);
$data .= $seperator;
$inquotes = false;
$startPoint = $row = $cellNo = 0;
for($i=0; $i<strlen($data); $i++) {
$char = $data[$i];
if ($char == $quote) {
if ($inquotes) $inquotes = false;
else $inquotes = true;
}
if (($char == $seperator or $char == $newline) and !$inquotes) {
$cell = substr($data,$startPoint,$i-$startPoint);
$cell = str_replace($quote,'',$cell);
$cell = str_replace('"',$quote,$cell);
$result[$row][$this->csvMap[$cellNo]] = $this->_parseValue($cellNo, $cell);
++$cellNo;
$startPoint = $i + 1;
if ($char == $newline) {
$cellNo = 0;
++$row;
}
}
}
return $result;
}
any help is appreciated!
EDIT:
Ok so after some more trial and error i found out its just the very first value of the first row that has some extra characters. If i echo that value everything i output after that gets messed up.
So i tried to change the encoding now if i echo the value its all good but i have a new problem, its a string but i need a int:
echo $val; //output: 7655 but messes up everything outputted after it
$val = mb_convert_encoding($val, "UTF-8");
echo $val // output: 7655
echo intval($val) //output: 0
EDIT:
expected output:
7655Array ( [kenmerk] => ÿþ7655 [status] => 205 [status_date] => 1991-12-30 [dob] => 1936-09-04 ) succes
messed up output
7655牁慲੹ਨ††歛湥敭歲⁝㸽＠㟾㘀㔀㔀਀††獛慴畴嵳㴠‾㈀㤀㔀਀††獛慴畴彳慤整⁝㸽 201ⴱ㄀㈀ⴀ30 †嬠潤嵢㴠‾㄀㤀㘀㘀-08〭㐀਀਩畳捣獥
i first echo the element 'kenmerk' after that i print the array
as you can see in the array the element 'kenmerk' has some extra charcters..
converting the data to utf-8 like so:
$data = mb_convert_encoding($data, "UTF-8");
eliminates the problem with messed up output and removes the 'ÿþ' (incorrectly-interpreted BOM?) but i still cant convert the values to a int
EDIT:
ok i sort of found a solution..
but as i have no idea why it works i'd appreciate any info
var_dump((int) $val); // output: 0
var_dump((int) strip_tags($val); // output: 7655

Answer 1

You need to remove ÿþ from 7655. intval() and int ($val = (int)$val;) will always output 0 when the first character is not a number. Ex. 765ÿþ5 will return 765, etc.
Regarding your first problem, I would also recommend you to read this answer. PHP messing with HTML Charset Encoding
I hope that it will give you more clarity about what you struggle with.
I will also build you striping process more stable, so it ex. match 7655 instead of ÿþ7655.