Question

I am using the following code as a proof-of concept for parsing the FCC License View sample data set:

import csv

if __name__ == '__main__':
    csv_file = open('fcc-license-view-data-sample.csv', 'rb')
    dialect = csv.Sniffer().sniff(csv_file.read(1024))
    csv_file.seek(0)
    data = csv.DictReader(csv_file, dialect=dialect)
    for item in data:
        print item

After the module has printed all of the data, an exception is thrown:

File "C:\Python27\lib\csv.py", line 104, in next
row = self.reader.next()

_csv.Error: newline inside string

Why does this exception occur? How can I avoid it?

Answer 1

That CSV file sample seems to be cut off mid-line. The very end is

 "2600 TOWER OAKS BOULEVARD","ROCKVILLE","MD","2085

Note the unclosed quotes.

Just don’t process the last line if you want to operate on just the sample. I think this should work:

def all_but_last_line(file):
    last = next(file)
    for line in file:
        yield last

if __name__ == '__main__':
    with open('fcc-license-view-data-sample.csv', 'rb') as csv_file:
        dialect = csv.Sniffer().sniff(csv_file.read(1024))
        csv_file.seek(0)
        data = csv.DictReader(all_but_last_line(csv_file), dialect=dialect)
        for item in data:
            print item