CSV Files

[Richard Gaskin]

Pete wrote:

> OK, so I know CSV files are not everyone's favorite subject but sometimes
> you have no control over how data reaches you!
>
> I have a handler in place that deals with the vagaries of CSV files, like
> returns, commas, and quotes in the data (did I miss any?) but it relies on
> a repeat loop looking at every character in the csv file.  It seems to work
> just fine but I'm wondering if the collective knowledge of this list gas
> already come up with a more efficient solution.

The article here outlines some of the many oddities about CSV, and 
includes a handler from Alex Tweedly which thus far has been the most 
efficient solution I've found:


CSV Must Die
A Plea to Introduce Sanity to the Software Development World
by Pledging to Never Write CSV Exporters
<http://www.fourthworld.com/embassy/articles/csv-must-die.html>

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World
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