Question

Ruby 1.9 version of csv

header %w[first second third]

data = ["column one",,"column three"]

CSV.open("myfile.csv","w") do |csv|
  csv << header
  csv << data
end

In this simple example, the empty middle ,, in the data array causes an error but if empty quote are used ,””, then no error and the CSV file is created. However I want to make the CSV file not have an empty quoted segement.

Specifically how do I generate blank sections of a CSV file without quotes? Data could be empty variables but it should still write the commas.

Answer 1

Use

data = ["column one",nil,"column three"]

which generates that CSV

first,second,third
column one,,column three