str_getcsv example - php

Question

I want to parse a comma separated value string into an array. I want to try the str_getcsv() php function but I can't find any good examples on how to use it.
For example I have an input where users submit tags for programming languages (php, js, jquery, etc), like the "tags" input in stackoverflow when you submit a question.
How would I turn an input with example value="php, js, jquery" into an array using str_getcsv?

Answer 1

Its true that the spec at http://us3.php.net/manual/en/function.str-getcsv.php doesn't include a standard example, but the user-submitted notes do a decent job of covering it. If this is a form input:
$val = $_POST['value'];
$data = str_getcsv($val);
$data is now an array with the values. Try it and see if you have any other issues.

Answer 2

I think you should maybe look at explode for this task.
$values = "php, js, jquery";
$items = explode(",", $values);
// Would give you an array:
echo $items[0]; // would be php
echo $items[1]; // would be js
echo $items[2]; // would be jquery
This would probably more efficient than str_getcsv();
Note that you would need to use trim() to remove possible whitespace befores and after item values.
UPDATE:
I hadn't seen str_getcsv before, but read this quote on the manpage that would make it seem a worthwhile candidate:
Why not use explode() instead of str_getcsv() to parse rows?
Because explode() would not treat possible enclosured parts of
string or escaped characters correctly.

Answer 3

For simplicity and readability, I typically find myself using just explode(), only adding in str_getcsv() if the following two conditions are met: 1) the primary delimiter is also used within the data itself; 2) the token that I'm trying to use as the main delimiter is enclosed by another distinct character.
For example, a basic parser for a CSV file:
$filename = $argv[1];
if (empty($filename)) { echo "Input file required\n"; exit; }
$AccountsArray = explode("\n", file_get_contents($filename));
As long as each of the elements of $AccountsArray doesn't embed a "," within the data itself, this will work perfectly and is straightforward and easy to follow:
foreach ($AccountsArray as $entry) {
$acctArr = explode(",", $entry);
}
However, often the data will contain the delimiter, at which point an enclosing token (a " in this example) has to be present. If so, then I switch to str_getcsv() like so:
foreach ($AccountsArray as $entry) {
$acctArr = str_getcsv($entry, ",", "\"");
}

Answer 4

//get the csv
$csvFile = file_get_contents('test.csv');
//separate each line
$csv = explode("\n",$csvFile);
foreach ($csv as $csvLine) {
//separet each fields
$linkToInsert = explode(",",$csvLine);
//echo what you need
//$linkToInsert[0] would be the first field, $linkToInsert[1] second field, etc
echo '• ' . $linkToInsert[1] . '<br>';
}

Answer 5

The code is quite simple, using the Str_getcsv function, we will go
through each line of the CSV file "images.csv" that is located in the
same directory as our script.
NOTE: Functions used are compatible with versions of PHP >= 5.3.0
//First, reading the CSV file
$csvFile = file('file.csv');
foreach ($csvFile as $line) {
$url = str_getcsv($line);
$ch = curl_init($url[0]);
$name = basename($url[0]);
if (!file_exists('directory/' . $name)) {
$fp = fopen('directory/' . $name, 'wb');
}
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FILE, $fp);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);
curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
fclose($fp);
}