ParseCSV / FormatCSV (CSV data)

SyncJS provides two functions for working with CSV (Comma-Separated Values) data according to RFC 4180.

NOTE

These functions are available as of Syncplify Server! v7.1.1. If you are running an older version, upgrade to the most recent version to use them.

ParseCSV

function ParseCSV(text: string, delimiter?: string): string[][];

Parses a CSV string and returns a two-dimensional array of strings (an array of rows, where each row is an array of field values). Quoted fields, embedded commas, and embedded newlines are all handled correctly.

Parameter	Type	Requirement	Explanation
text	string	required	The CSV text to parse
delimiter	string	optional	Single-character field delimiter. Defaults to , (comma).

Return value	Explanation
string[][]	Two-dimensional array of field values
null	The input could not be parsed as CSV

Example

var csv  = 'Alice,30,Engineer\nBob,25,Designer\n';
var rows = ParseCSV(csv);
for (var i = 0; i < rows.length; i++) {
  Log(rows[i][0] + ' is ' + rows[i][1] + ' years old.');
}
// Alice is 30 years old.
// Bob is 25 years old.

Tab-separated example

var tsv  = 'col1\tcol2\tcol3\n1\t2\t3\n';
var rows = ParseCSV(tsv, '\t');

FormatCSV

function FormatCSV(rows: string[][], delimiter?: string): string;

Serializes a two-dimensional array of strings to a CSV string. Fields are quoted automatically when they contain the delimiter, a double-quote, or a newline character, as required by RFC 4180.

Parameter	Type	Requirement	Explanation
rows	string[][]	required	Two-dimensional array of field values
delimiter	string	optional	Single-character field delimiter. Defaults to , (comma).

Return value	Explanation
string	The CSV-formatted text

Example

var rows = [
  ['Name', 'Age', 'Role'],
  ['Alice', '30', 'Engineer'],
  ['Bob', '25', 'Designer']
];
var csv = FormatCSV(rows);
WriteTextToFile('/var/reports/people.csv', csv);

Read, transform, and write a CSV file

var raw  = ReadTextFile('/var/inbox/data.csv');
var rows = ParseCSV(raw);

// Add a new column header and value
rows[0].push('Processed');
for (var i = 1; i < rows.length; i++) {
  rows[i].push('yes');
}

WriteTextToFile('/var/outbox/data.csv', FormatCSV(rows));