How to parse a .csv file into a multidimensional array in PHP?

Question

I'm a newbie in PHP and I'm trying to make a todo list that communicates with a .csv file,. So far I've managed to write a function that writes the user input into the csv file, but I'm stuck on writing a function that would parse (I'm not even sure if this is the correct term) every line of the .csv file into a multi dimensional array, so I could display every line of the list to my convenience in the PHTML file.

Here's what I have so far :

`<?php
//
// ─── DATA ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
//

$user_entry = array(
    'title' => '',
    'description' => '',
    'date' => '',
    'priority' => ''
);

// puts the data the users entered into an array
$user_entry['title'] = $_POST['title'];
$user_entry['description'] = $_POST['description'];
$user_entry['date'] = $_POST['date'];
$user_entry['priority'] = $_POST['priority'];

//
// ─── FUNCTIONS ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
//

function writeInList() {
    //parses the $user_entry array into the .csv file
    global $user_entry;
    $file = fopen("todo.csv","a");
    fputcsv($file, $user_entry, ",");
    fclose($file);
}

function displayList() {
    //That's where I'm stuck.
    $file = fopen("todo.csv","r");
    $fileCountable = file("todo.csv");
    for ($i = 0; $i < count($fileCountable); $i++) {
        $csvContent = fgetcsv($file, 1000, ",");
        foreach ($csvContent as $value){
            $var[$i] = $value;
        }
        echo '<br>';
    }
    fclose($file);
}

//
// ─── MAIN CODE ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
//

writeInList();

include 'todolist.phtml';`

I'm sorry if it has been discussed before. I've searched a lot and found similar questions but can't get to make it work in my own code. Thanks a lot in advance if anyone takes the time to take a look at my code !

This is also my very first time posting here so I hope I'm doing it right.

dWinder · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-03 23:36:28Z

2

You did pretty good. You can look at fgetcsv documentation for more. I would have change you function so it will get the argument as input (try avoid using global)

// insert data
function writeInList($user_entry, $path ) {
    $file = fopen($path ,"a");
    fputcsv($file, $user_entry, ",");
    fclose($file);
}

//extract data
function getList($path, $limit = 100000) {
    $file = fopen($path, "r");
    if (!$file) return null; // or throw error or print to log
    $allRows = []; //
    while (($data = fgetcsv($file, $limit, ",")) !== FALSE) {
        $allRows[] = $data; // as fgetcsv return array already exlode by "," 
    }
    fclose($file);
    return $allRows; 
}

Now you have 2-Dim array return from getList. Use is as getList("todo.csv") and display as you pleased.

Hope that helps!

edited Feb 3, 2019 at 23:36

answered Feb 3, 2019 at 19:03

dWinder

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2 Comments

Wiimm Over a year ago

Size limit (second param of fgetcsv()) of 1000 seems to be small. For a general function I would set it to 100000. Alternatively, add a second function param: getList( $path, $limit = 100000 ) and use the param in fgetcsv($file, $limit,",").

Flo Over a year ago

Thanks a lot, it works perfectly ! The key here is really the "while (($data = fgetcsv($file, 1000, ",")) !== FALSE)" I guess, although it took me a while to really understand what's going on here. You've helped me a lot anyway, thanks again !

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