Question

i’d like to make an export into CSV format, but the mutualised host i use has deactivate the FILE functions in mysql.

I did a simple SELECT and then a fopen and fwrite with PHP.

The problem is that in fields there is carriage returns or double quotes.

How to keep them and build a correct csv file?

Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

To build a best CSV. you can do following way.

   $filename ='data.csv';
   $csv_terminated = "\n";
   $csv_separator = ",";
   $csv_enclosed = '"';
   $csv_escaped = "\\";

$results  = array('1','2','3');// value

    $schema_insert = '';

    $header = array('a','b','c');// header


    for ($i = 0; $i< count($header); $i++)
    {
        $l = $csv_enclosed . str_replace($csv_enclosed, $csv_escaped . $csv_enclosed,
            stripslashes($header[$i])) . $csv_enclosed;
        $schema_insert .= $l;
        $schema_insert .= $csv_separator;
    } // end for

    $out = trim(substr($schema_insert, 0, -1));
    $out .= $csv_terminated;

    // Format the data
    for($i=0;$i<count($results);$i++)
    {
        $row = $results[$i];
        $schema_insert = '';
        for ($j = 0; $j < count($header); $j++)
        {
            if ($row[$j] == '0' || $row[$j] != '')
            {

                if ($csv_enclosed == '')
                {
                    $schema_insert .= $row[$j];
                } else
                {
                    $schema_insert .= $csv_enclosed .
                    str_replace($csv_enclosed, $csv_escaped . $csv_enclosed, $row[$j]) . $csv_enclosed;
                }
            } else
            {
                $schema_insert .= 'NULL';
            }

            if ($j < count($header) - 1)
            {
                $schema_insert .= $csv_separator;
            }
        } // end for

        $out .= $schema_insert;
        $out .= $csv_terminated;
    } // end while

    header("Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0");
    header("Content-Length: " . strlen($out));
    // Output to browser with appropriate mime type, you choose <img src="http://thetechnofreak.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" class="wp-smiley">
    header("Content-type: text/x-csv");
    //header("Content-type: text/csv");
    //header("Content-type: application/csv");
    header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=$filename");
    echo $out;

Notice that,
+ when you make enclosed for description which has html code , you should use double quote.
+ Empty value –> Change to Null text or Zero value

They will make your CSV better.