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CSV

This is the documentation for version 8.0 which will be supported until 2018-02-18. Please consider upgrading your code to the latest stable version

Inserting Data

To create or update a CSV use the following League\Csv\Writer methods.

When creating a file using the library, first insert all the data that need to be inserted before starting manipulating the CSV. If you manipulate your data before insertion, you may change the file cursor position and get unexpected results.

Adding new data

The Writer class performs a number of actions while inserting your data into the CSV. When submitting data for insertion the class will proceed as describe below for each row.

The Writer class will:

  • See if the row is an array, if not it will try to convert it into a proper array;
  • If supplied, formatters will further format the given array;
  • If supplied, validators will validate the formatted array according to their rules;
  • While writing the data to your CSV document, if supplied, stream filters will apply further formatting to the inserted row;
  • If needed the newline sequence will be updated;

To add new data to your CSV the Writer class uses the following methods

Writer::insertOne

insertOne inserts a single row.

public Writer::insertOne(mixed $row): Writer

This method takes a single argument $row which can be

  • an array;
  • a string;
  • or an object implementing the __toString method.

Example

use League\Csv\Writer;

class ToStringEnabledClass
{
    private $str;

    public function __construct($str)
    {
        $this->str = $str;
    }

    public function __toString()
    {
        return $this->str;
    }
}

$writer = Writer::createFromPath('/path/to/saved/file.csv', 'w+');
$writer->insertOne(['john', 'doe', 'john.doe@example.com']);
$writer->insertOne("'john','doe','john.doe@example.com'");
$writer->insertOne(new ToStringEnabledClass("john,doe,john.doe@example.com"))

In the above example, all the CSV records are saved to the /path/to/saved/file.csv file.

Writer::insertAll

insertAll inserts multiple rows.

public Writer::insertAll(mixed $rows): Writer

This method takes a single argument $row which can be

  • a array
  • or a Traversable object

to add several rows to the CSV data.

Example

use League\Csv\Writer;

$rows = [
    [1, 2, 3],
    ['foo', 'bar', 'baz'],
    "'john','doe','john.doe@example.com'",
    new ToStringEnabledClass("john,doe,john.doe@example.com")
];

$writer = Writer::createFromFileObject(new SplTempFileObject());
$writer->insertAll($rows); //using an array
$writer->insertAll(new ArrayIterator($rows)); //using a Traversable object

Row formatting

CSV Formatter

A formatter is a callable which accepts an array on input and returns the same array formatted according to its inner rules.

function(array $row): array

You can attach as many formatters as you want to the Writer class to manipulate your data prior to its insertion. The formatters follow the First In First Out rule when inserted, deleted and/or applied.

Formatter API

The formatter API comes with the following public API:

public Writer::addFormatter(callable $callable): Writer
public Writer::removeFormatter(callable $callable): Writer
public Writer::hasFormatter(callable $callable): bool
public Writer::clearFormatters(void): Writer
  • addFormatter: Adds a formatter to the formatter collection;
  • removeFormatter: Removes an already registered formatter. If the formatter was registered multiple times, you will have to call removeFormatter as often as the formatter was registered. The first registered copy will be the first to be removed.
  • hasFormatter: Checks if the formatter is already registered
  • clearFormatters: removes all registered formatters.
use League\Csv\Writer;

$formatter = function ($row) {
    return array_map('strtoupper', $row);
};
$writer = Writer::createFromFileObject(new SplTempFileObject());
$writer->addFormatter($formatter);
$writer->insertOne(['john', 'doe', 'john.doe@example.com']);

$writer->__toString();
//will display something like JOHN,DOE,JOHN.DOE@EXAMPLE.COM

Row validation

CSV validator

A validator is a callable which takes a array as its sole argument and returns a boolean.

function(array $row): bool

The validator must return true to validate the submitted row.

Any other expression, including truthy ones like yes, 1,… will make the insertOne method throw an League\Csv\Exception\InvalidRowException.

As with the new formatter capabilities, you can attach as many validators as you want to your data prior to its insertion. The row data is checked against your supplied validators after being formatted.

Validator API

The validator API comes with the following public API:

public Writer::addValidator(callable $callable, string $validatorName): Writer
public Writer::removeValidator(string $validatorName): Writer
public Writer::hasValidator(string $validatorName): bool
public Writer::clearValidators(void): Writer
  • addValidator: Adds a validator each time it is called. The method takes two parameters:
    • A callable which takes an array as its unique parameter;
    • The validator name which is required. If another validator was already registered with the given name, it will be overridden.
  • removeValidator: Removes an already registered validator by using the validator registrated name.
  • hasValidator: Checks if the validator is already registered
  • clearValidators: removes all registered validator.

Validation failed

If the validation failed a League\Csv\Exception\InvalidRowException is thrown by the Writer object. This exception extends PHP’s InvalidArgumentException by adding two public getter methods

public InvalidRowException::getName(void): string
public InvalidRowException::getData(void): array
  • InvalidRowException::getName: returns the name of the failed validator
  • InvalidRowException::getData: returns the invalid data submitted to the validator

Validation example

use League\Csv\Writer;
use League\Csv\Exception\InvalidRowException;

$writer->addValidator(function (array $row) {
    return 10 == count($row);
}, 'row_must_contain_10_cells');
try {
    $writer->insertOne(['john', 'doe', 'john.doe@example.com']);
} catch (InvalidRowException $e) {
    echo $e->getName(); //display 'row_must_contain_10_cells'
    $e->getData();//will return the invalid data ['john', 'doe', 'john.doe@example.com']
}

Bundled formatters and validators

Null value validator

The League\Csv\Plugin\ForbiddenNullValuesValidator class validates the absence of null values

use League\Csv\Writer;
use League\Csv\Plugin\ForbiddenNullValuesValidator;

$validator = new ForbiddenNullValuesValidator();
$writer = Writer::createFromPath('/path/to/your/csv/file.csv');
$writer->addValidator($validator, 'null_as_exception');
$writer->insertOne(["foo", null, "bar"]);
// will throw an League\Csv\Exception\InvalidRowException

Null value formatting

The League\Csv\Plugin\SkipNullValuesFormatter class skips cell using founded null values

use League\Csv\Writer;
use League\Csv\Plugin\SkipNullValuesFormatter;

$formatter = new SkipNullValuesFormatter();

$writer = Writer::createFromPath('/path/to/your/csv/file.csv');
$writer->addFormatter($formatter);
$writer->insertOne(["foo", null, "bar"]);
//the actual inserted row will be ["foo", "bar"]

Records consistency check

The League\Csv\Plugin\ColumnConsistencyValidator class validates the inserted record column count consistency.

use League\Csv\Writer;
use League\Csv\Plugin\ColumnConsistencyValidator;

$validator = new ColumnConsistencyValidator();
$validator->autodetectColumnsCount();
$validator->getColumnsCount(); //returns -1

$writer = Writer::createFromPath('/path/to/your/csv/file.csv');
$writer->addValidator($validator, 'column_consistency');

$writer->insertOne(["foo", null, "bar"]);
$nb_column_count = $validator->getColumnsCount(); //returns 3

Stream filtering

Some data formatting can still occur while writing the data to the CSV document after validation using the Stream Filters capabilities.

Handling newline

Because the php fputcsv implementation has a hardcoded \n, we need to be able to replace the last LF code with one supplied by the developer for more interoperability between CSV packages on different platforms. The newline sequence will be appended to each CSV newly inserted line.

At any given time you can get and modify the $newline property using the getNewline and setNewline methods described in CSV properties documentation page.

use League\Csv\Writer;

$writer = Writer::createFromFileObject(new SplFileObject());
$newline = $writer->getNewline(); // equals "\n";
$writer->setNewline("\r\n");
$newline = $writer->getNewline(); // equals "\r\n";
$writer->insertOne(["one", "two"]);
echo $writer; // displays "one,two\r\n";

Please refer to the BOM character dedicated documentation page for more information on how the library manage the BOM character.