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CSV

BOM sequences

Detecting the BOM sequence

To improve interoperability with programs interacting with CSV, the package now provides an enum Bom to help you detect the appropriate BOM sequence.

BOM definition

The Bom enum provides the following value :

  • Bom::Utf8 : which handles the UTF-8 BOM sequence;
  • Bom::utf16Be : which handles the UTF-16 BOM with Big-Endian sequence;
  • Bom::utf16Le : which handles the UTF-16 BOM with Little-Endian sequence;
  • Bom::utf32Be : which handles the UTF-32 BOM with Big-Endian sequence;
  • Bom::utf32Le : which handles the UTF-32 BOM with Little-Endian sequence;

Detecting the BOM from a sequence of characters

Bom::fromSequence(mixed $sequence): Bom
Bom::tryFromSequence(mixed $sequence): ?Bom

The Bom::tryFromSequence static method expects any type that can be converted to a string and returns the BOM sequence found at its start as a new Bom instance or null otherwise. Instead of returning null the Bom::fromSequence will throw a ValueError exception.

use League\Csv\Bom;

Bom::tryFromSequence('hello world!'); //returns null
Bom::tryFromSequence(Bom::Utf8->value.'hello world!'); //returns Bom::Utf8
Bom::tryFromSequence('hello world!'.Bom::Utf16Le->value); //returns null

Detecting the BOM from the encoding name

Bom::fromEncoding(string $encoding): Bom
Bom::tryFromEncoding(mixed $encoding): ?Bom

The Bom::tryFromEncoding static method expects a valid encoding name as a string if the encoding name after filtering is find a new Bom instance or null is returned otherwise. Instead of returning null the Bom::fromEncoding will throw a ValueError exception.

use League\Csv\Bom;

Bom::tryFromEncoding('utf16'); //returns Bom::Utf16Be
Bom::tryFromEncoding('u_t_F--8'); //returns Bom::Utf8
Bom::tryFromEncoding('foobar'); //returns null

Accessing the BOM properties

Once you have a valid Bom instance you can access:

  • its actual value via the Enum value property;
  • its length via the length() method;
  • the represented encoding name via the encoding() method;
  • isUtf8, isUtf16, isUtf32 method to quicky know which encoding family is used
use League\Csv\Bom;

$bom = Bom::tryFromEncoding('utf16'); //returns Bom::Utf16Be
$bom->value; //returns "\xFE\xFF"
$bom->length(); //returns 2
$bom->encoding(); //returns 'UTF-16BE'
$bom->isUtf8(); //returns false
$bom->isUtf16(); //returns true
$bom->isUtf32(); //returns false

Deprecated features

bom_match and Info::fetchBOMSequence

Since version 9.7 bom_match is deprecated and you are encouraged to use Info::fetchBOMSequence instead.

Since version 9.16 Info::fetchBOMSequence is deprecated and you are encouraged to use Bom::tryFromSequence instead.

function League\Csv\bom_match(string $str): string
League\Csv\Info::fetchBOMSequence(string $str): ?string

The League\Csv\bom_match function expects a string and returns the BOM sequence found at its start or an empty string otherwise.

use League\Csv\ByteSequence;
use function League\Csv\bom_match;

bom_match('hello world!'); //returns ''
bom_match(ByteSequence::BOM_UTF8.'hello world!'); //returns '\xEF\xBB\xBF'
bom_match('hello world!'.ByteSequence::BOM_UTF16_BE); //returns ''

Managing CSV documents BOM sequence

Detecting the BOM sequence

public AbstractCsv::getInputBOM(void): string

The CSV document current BOM character is detected using the getInputBOM method. This method returns the currently used BOM character or an empty string if none is found or recognized. The detection is done using the Bom::tryFromSequence static method.

use League\Csv\Reader;

$csv = Reader::createFromPath('/path/to/file.csv');
$bom = $csv->getInputBOM();

Setting the outputted BOM sequence

public AbstractCsv::setOutputBOM(Bom|string|null $sequence): self
public AbstractCsv::getOutputBOM(void): string
  • setOutputBOM: sets the outputting BOM you want your CSV to be associated with.
  • getOutputBOM: gets the outputting BOM you want your CSV to be associated with.

All connections classes implement the ByteSequence interface.

Since version 9.16 the $sequence parameter also accepts a Bom instance or null.

use League\Csv\Bom;
use League\Csv\Reader;

$csv = Reader::createFromPath('/path/to/file.csv', 'r');
$csv->setOutputBOM(Bom::Utf8);
$bom = $csv->getOutputBOM(); //returns "\xEF\xBB\xBF"

The default output BOM character is set to an empty string.

The output BOM sequence is never saved to the CSV document.

Controlling Input BOM usage

Since version 9.4.0.

If your document contains a BOM sequence the following methods control its presence when processing it.

AbstractCsv::skipInputBOM(): self;
AbstractCsv::includeInputBOM(): self;
AbstractCsv::isInputBOMIncluded(): bool;
  • skipInputBOM: enables skipping the input BOM from your CSV document.
  • includeInputBOM: preserves the input BOM from your CSV document while accessing its content.
  • isInputBOMIncluded: tells whether skipping or including the input BOM will be done.

By default, and to avoid BC Break, the Input BOM, if present, is skipped.

If your document does not contain any BOM sequence you can speed up the CSV iterator by preserving its presence, which means that no operation to detect and remove it if present will take place.

$raw_csv = Bom::Utf8->value."john,doe,john.doe@example.com\njane,doe,jane.doe@example.com\n";
$csv = Reader::createFromString($raw_csv);
$csv->setOutputBOM(Bom::Utf16Le);
$csv->includeInputBOM();
ob_start();
$csv->output();
$document = ob_get_clean();

The returned $document will contain 2 BOM markers instead of one.

If you are using a stream that can not be seekable you should disable BOM skipping, otherwise an Exception will be triggered.

The BOM sequence is never removed from the CSV document, it is only skipped from the result set.

Skipping the BOM Sequence

Since version 9.9.0 you can skip the BOM sequence using the CharsetConverter filter