Reading and Writing CSV Files in
Python
By:-
Amit Yerpude
PGT (Computer Science)
Kendriya Vidyalaya , Khagaria
By:- Amit Yerpude, PGT 5/2/2020
CS, KV Khagaria
What Is a CSV File?
• A CSV file (Comma Separated Values file) is a type of plain text file
that uses specific structuring to arrange tabular data.
• Because it’s a plain text file, it can contain only actual text data—in
other words, printable ASCII or Unicode characters.
• The structure of a CSV file is given away by its name. Normally, CSV
files use a comma to separate each specific data value.
• Normally, the first line identifies each piece of data—in other words,
the name of a data column. Every subsequent line after that is actual
data and is limited only by file size constraints.
• In general, the separator character is called a delimiter, and the
comma is not the only one used. Other popular delimiters include
the tab (\t), colon (:) and semi-colon (;) characters. Properly parsing
a CSV file requires us to know which delimiter is being used.
By:- Amit Yerpude, PGT 5/2/2020
CS, KV Khagaria
CSV Sample File.
• Data in the form of tables is also called CSV (comma separated
values) - literally "comma-separated values." This is a text format
intended for the presentation of tabular data. Each line of the file is
one line of the table. The values of individual columns are separated
by a separator symbol - a comma (,), a semicolon (;) or another
symbol. CSV can be easily read and processed by Python.
• Consider the following Tabe
• Table Data
Programm
Appeare Extensi
ing Designed by
d on
language
Python Guido van Rossum 1991 .py
Java James Gosling 1995 .java
C++ Bjarne Stroustrup 1983 .cpp
By:- Amit Yerpude, PGT 5/2/2020
CS, KV Khagaria
• CSV Data
Programming language, Designed by, Appeared, Extension
Python, Guido van Rossum, 1991, .py
Java, James Gosling, 1995, .java
C++, Bjarne Stroustrup,1983,.cpp
• As you can see each row is a new line, and each
column is separated with a comma. This is an
example of how a CSV file looks like.
By:- Amit Yerpude, PGT 5/2/2020
CS, KV Khagaria
Python CSV Module
• Python provides a CSV module to handle CSV files. To read/write
data, you need to loop through rows of the CSV. You need to use the
split method to get data from specified columns.
• CSV Module Functions
csv.field_size_limit – return maximum field size
csv.get_dialect – get the dialect which is associated with the name
csv.list_dialects – show all registered dialects
csv.reader – read data from a csv file
csv.register_dialect - associate dialect with name
csv.writer – write data to a csv file
csv.unregister_dialect - delete the dialect associated with the name
the dialect registry
csv.QUOTE_ALL - Quote everything, regardless of type.
csv.QUOTE_MINIMAL - Quote fields with special characters
csv.QUOTE_NONNUMERIC - Quote all fields that aren't numbers
value
csv.QUOTE_NONE – Don't quote anything in output
By:- Amit Yerpude, PGT 5/2/2020
CS, KV Khagaria
How to Read a CSV File
• To read data from CSV files, you must use the
reader function to generate a reader object.
• The reader function is developed to take each
row of the file and make a list of all columns.
Then, you have to choose the column you want
the variable data for.
By:- Amit Yerpude, PGT 5/2/2020
CS, KV Khagaria
Let's take a look at this example
• #import necessary modules
import csv
with open('X:\data.csv','rt')as f:
data = csv.reader(f)
for row in data:
print(row)
When you execute the program above, the output will
be:
['Programming language; Designed by; Appeared; Extension']
['Python; Guido van Rossum; 1991; .py']
['Java; James Gosling; 1995; .java']
['C++; Bjarne Stroustrup;1983;.cpp']
By:- Amit Yerpude, PGT 5/2/2020
CS, KV Khagaria
How to Read a CSV as a Dictionary
• You can also you use DictReader to read CSV
files. The results are interpreted as a dictionary
where the header row is the key, and other rows
are values.
• Consider the following code
• #import necessary modules
import csv reader = csv.DictReader(open("file2.csv"))
for raw in reader:
print(raw)
By:- Amit Yerpude, PGT 5/2/2020
CS, KV Khagaria
• The result of this code is:
OrderedDict([('Programming language', 'Python'), ('Designed by',
'Guido van Rossum'), (' Appeared', ' 1991'), (' Extension', ' .py')])
OrderedDict([('Programming language', 'Java'), ('Designed by', 'James
Gosling'), (' Appeared', ' 1995'), (' Extension', ' .java')])
OrderedDict([('Programming language', 'C++'), ('Designed by', '
Bjarne Stroustrup'), (' Appeared', ' 1985'), (' Extension', ' .cpp')]
• And this way to read data from CSV file is much easier than earlier
method. However, this is not isn't the best way to read data.
By:- Amit Yerpude, PGT 5/2/2020
CS, KV Khagaria
How to write CSV File?
• When you have a set of data that you would like
to store in a CSV file you have to use writer()
function.
• To iterate the data over the rows(lines), you have
to use the writerow() function.
• Consider the following example.
• We write data into a file "writeData.csv" where
the delimiter is an apostrophe.
By:- Amit Yerpude, PGT 5/2/2020
CS, KV Khagaria
#import necessary modules
import csv
with open('X:\writeData.csv', mode='w') as file:
writer = csv.writer(file, delimiter=',', quotechar='"', quoting=csv.QUOTE_MINIMAL)
#way to write to csv file
writer.writerow(['Programming language', 'Designed by', 'Appeared', 'Extension'])
writer.writerow(['Python', 'Guido van Rossum', '1991', '.py'])
writer.writerow(['Java', 'James Gosling', '1995', '.java'])
writer.writerow(['C++', 'Bjarne Stroustrup', '1985', '.cpp'])
By:- Amit Yerpude, PGT 5/2/2020
CS, KV Khagaria
• Result in csv file is:
Programming language, Designed by, Appeared, Extension
Python, Guido van Rossum, 1991, .py
Java, James Gosling, 1995, .java
C++, Bjarne Stroustrup,1983,.cpp
By:- Amit Yerpude, PGT 5/2/2020
CS, KV Khagaria
Reading CSV Files with Pandas
• Pandas is an opensource library that allows to you perform data
manipulation in Python.
• Pandas provide an easy way to create, manipulate and delete the
data.
• You must install pandas library with command <code>pip install
pandas</code>
• Reading the CSV into a pandas DataFrame is very quick and easy:
#import necessary modules
import pandas
result = pandas.read_csv('X:\data.csv')
print(result)
Result:
Programming language, Designed by, Appeared, Extension
0 Python, Guido van Rossum, 1991, .py
1 Java, James Gosling, 1995, .java
2 C++, Bjarne Stroustrup,1983,.cpp
By:- Amit Yerpude, PGT 5/2/2020
CS, KV Khagaria
Writing to CSV Files with Pandas
• Writing to CSV file with Pandas is as easy as reading.
• Here you can convince in it. First you must create DataFrame based on the
following code.
from pandas import DataFrame
C = {'Programming language': ['Python','Java', 'C++'],
'Designed by': ['Guido van Rossum', 'James Gosling', 'Bjarne Stroustrup'],
'Appeared': ['1991', '1995', '1985'],
'Extension': ['.py', '.java', '.cpp'], }
df = DataFrame(C, columns= ['Programming language', 'Designed by',
'Appeared', 'Extension'])
export_csv = df.to_csv (r'X:\pandaresult.csv', index = None, header=True)
# here you have to write path, where result file will be stored
print (df)
• Here is the output
Programming language, Designed by, Appeared, Extension
0 Python, Guido van Rossum, 1991, .py
1 Java, James Gosling, 1995, .java
2 C++, Bjarne Stroustrup,1983,.cpp
By:- Amit Yerpude, PGT 5/2/2020
CS, KV Khagaria
Thank you!!!
