Question

I have a CSV file that I want to read with Ruby and create Ruby objects to insert into a MySQL database with Active Record. What’s the best way to do this? I see two clear options: FasterCSV & the Ruby core CSV. Which is better? Is there a better option that I’m missing?

EDIT: Gareth says to use FasterCSV, so what’s the best way to read a CSV file using FasterCSV? Looking at the documentation, I see methods called parse, foreach, read, open… It says that foreach “is intended as the primary interface for reading CSV files.” So, I guess I should use that one?

Answer 1

Ruby 1.9 adopted FasterCSV as its core CSV processor, so I would say it’s definitely better to go for FasterCSV, even if you’re still using Ruby 1.8