Question

I have some csv files being uploaded to my server hourly. I need to take those, and create other files from them. For example.

test.csv has 3 columns worth of data. I want to remove the second column completely, then save the remaining 2 columns as their own file. text_changed.csv

Developing on a linux server, but transfering the site to a windows machine.

Not sure how much the server OS matters here. I know PHP more than any other coding language, but am not a pro.

Answer 1

A CSV file is just an ordinary text file that follows certain conventions. The primary conventions are:

• Commas are used to separate columns.
• If there is a comma in the text of a column (e.g. Acme, Inc.), then the text for that column must be surrounded by quotes.

There are a few more rules that you need to fully understand if you were to parse CSV files yourself.

Fortunately, PHP provides some built-in support for reading and working with CSV files. Have a look at:

http://php.net/manual/en/function.fgetcsv.php

http://php.net/manual/en/function.fputcsv.php

You may also want to have a look at the following project:

http://code.google.com/p/php-csv-utils/

Work through the documentation, then post more specific questions here.