Learning Objectives: CSV
Define CSV
Read data from a CSV file
Iterate over a CSV file
Print data from a CSV file with formatting
Write data to a CSV file
CSV Files
CSV Files
C++ can work with files besides just text files. Comma Separated Value (CSV)
files are an example of a commonly used file format for storing data. CSV
files are similar to a spreadsheet in that data is stored in rows and columns.
Each row of data is on its own line in the file, and commas are used to
indicate a new column. Here is an example of a CSV file.
Month Python CSV
You can read a CSV file in the same way you read a text file. First create an
ifstream object and then open the CSV file using it.
string path = "student/csv/monty_python_movies.csv";
try {
ifstream file;
string read;
file.open(path);
if (!file) {
throw runtime_error("File failed to open.");
}
while (getline(file, read, ',')) {
cout << read + ' ';
}
file.close();
}
catch (exception& e) {
cerr << e.what() << endl;
}
To iterate through the CSV file, we use while (getline(file, read, ',')).
Since CSV files contain commas that separate information, we set the
delimiter to ','. Then we print the content by using cout << read + ' '.
We add a space to separate the tokens from each other since it is not
apparent that the information is tokenized from using just cout << read;.
challenge
Try this variation:
Change cout << read + ' '; to cout << read << endl;?
By using cout << read << endl; you can clearly see each token line by line.
Depending on your preference, you can choose to arrange the tokens in a
variety of different formats.
Ignoring the Header
The first row of a CSV file is helpful because the header values provide
context for the data. However, the first row is not useful if you want to
know how many rows of data there are, or to calculate the avg value, etc.
Here, you can also use the ignore() function to skip a specific number of
characters.
string path = "student/csv/monty_python_movies.csv";
try {
ifstream file;
string read;
file.open(path);
if (!file) {
throw runtime_error("File failed to open.");
}
file.ignore(19); //Ignore the first 19 characters from index
0-18
while (getline(file, read, ',')) {
cout << read << endl;
}
file.close();
}
catch (exception& e) {
cerr << e.what() << endl;
}
challenge
Try this variation:
Change file.ignore(19); to file.ignore(53);?
Change file.ignore(53); to file.ignore(500);?
Change file.ignore(500); to file.ignore(500, '\n');?
Add another file.ignore(500, '\n'); below the first
file.ignore(500, '\n');?
The file.ignore(500, '\n'); command tells the system to skip the first
500 characters or up through the newline character \n. Since there are
fewer than 500 characters, the system will skip everything up through the
first occurrence of the newline. You can add additional ignore commands
to ignore more lines of data if needed.
Printing CSV Data
Printing CSV Data
Iterating over the CSV file and printing each line does not produce visually
pleasing output. The code below produces three columns of data, but there
is no consistency in the spacing between columns. When printed, the data
looks very disorganized and difficult to read.
string path = "student/csv/homeruns.csv";
try {
ifstream file;
string read;
file.open(path);
if (!file) {
throw runtime_error("File failed to open.");
}
while (getline(file, read, ',')) {
cout << read + " ";
}
file.close();
}
catch (exception& e) {
cerr << e.what() << endl;
}
To better organize our CSV data, we can store the data into a vector and
then format and print elements in a way that looks more organized.
string path = "student/csv/homeruns.csv";
vector<string> data;
try {
ifstream file;
string read;
file.open(path);
if (!file) {
throw runtime_error("File failed to open.");
}
while (getline(file, read)) {
stringstream ss(read);
while (getline(ss, read, ',')) {
data.push_back(read);
}
}
file.close();
for (int i = 0; i < data.size(); i++) {
if (i % 3 == 0) {
cout << setw(20) << left << data.at(i);
}
else if (i % 3 == 1) {
cout << setw(15) << left << data.at(i);
}
else {
cout << data.at(i) << endl;
}
}
}
catch (exception& e) {
cerr << e.what() << endl;
}
To organize our data, we use conditionals to split our elements into three
columns. if (i % 3 == 0) refers to the elements in the first column, else
if (i % 3 == 1) refers to the second column, and else refers to the third.
We use the setw() function to provide padding for our elements. For
example, setw(20) means that the system will reserve 20 characters for the
elements. If the element does not take up 20 characters, then white spaces
will occupy those spaces. To use setw(), you’ll need #include <iomanip> in
the header of your file. The left tag forces the element to be aligned to the
left side.
challenge
Try this variation:
Change setw(20) to setw(16)?
Change setw(15) to setw(10)?
Delete the second left tag?
Delete the first left tag?
Note
By default, standard streams are set to right. This is why deleting
all of the left tags will effectively align the streams back to the
right side. Additionally, you only have to set the left tag once for
all streams that follow to align left as well.
Notice how the last column Active Player is not formatted and is therefore
unaffected by the changes.
important
IMPORTANT
The order or placement of where you use left and setw() can affect all
streams that follow. So it’s important to keep track of the changes that
take place as you print. For example outputting
Writing to CSV Files
Writing to a CSV File
Writing to a CSV files is similar to writing to a text file. First create an
ofstream object to open the CSV file. Then you can write to the CSV file
using the insertion operator <<. To read the CSV file, you can use the same
syntax that was previously shown.
string path = "student/csv/writepractice.csv";
try {
ofstream file;
file.open(path);
if (!file) {
throw runtime_error("File failed to open.");
}
file << "Greeting,Language" << endl;
file << "Hello,English" << endl;
file << "Bonjour,French" << endl;
file << "Hola,Spanish";
file.close();
ifstream file2;
string read;
file2.open(path);
while (getline(file2, read, ',')) {
cout << read + ' ';
}
file2.close();
}
catch (exception& e) { //catch error
cerr << e.what() << endl;
}
Click to open CSV file: writepractice.csv
To organize the CSV data, you can add each token into a vector and then
use conditionals to format and print the data like before.
string path = "student/csv/writepractice.csv";
vector<string> data;
try {
ifstream file;
string read;
file.open(path);
if (!file) {
throw runtime_error("File failed to open.");
}
while (getline(file, read)) {
stringstream ss(read);
while (getline(ss, read, ',')) {
data.push_back(read);
}
}
file.close();
for (int i = 0; i < data.size(); i++) {
if (i % 2 == 0) {
cout << setw(15) << left << data.at(i);
}
else {
cout << data.at(i) << endl;
}
}
}
catch (exception& e) {
cerr << e.what() << endl;
}
