Convert csv file to dbf

Question

I got a lot of csv files and would like to convert them to a dbf file. I found code from Ethan Furman (see below) It works very well - thanks a lot, but my csv files have a semicolon as a separator. This way, python code puts all my data in one column, but I have 5 columns. How to change the separator?

here's the link: Convert CSV file to .dbf using Python?

special

Using the dbf package, you can get a basic csv file with code like this:

import dbf some_table = dbf.from_csv(csvfile='/path/to/file.csv', to_disk=True) 

This will create a table with the same name and character or note fields and field names f0, f1, f2, etc.

For a different file name, use the filename parameter, and if you know the field names, you can also use the field_names parameter.

 some_table = dbf.from_csv(csvfile='data.csv', filename='mytable', field_names='name age birth'.split()) 

Rather, the basic documentation is available here .

Answer 1

Looking at the dbf code, I see no way to pass the dialect, so you can convert your files as follows:

 import csv reader = csv.reader(open('input.csv'), delimiter=';') writer = csv.writer(open('output.csv', 'w')) for row in reader: writer.writerow(row) 

Note. This will correctly contain lines that already contain a comma as part of its contents.

Edit: if you want to schedule dbf.from_csv to take delimiter as a parameter to avoid converting all your csv files, this should work:

 --- dbf.py.orig 2012-01-23 12:48:32.112101218 +0100 +++ dbf.py 2012-01-23 12:49:59.468534408 +0100 @@ -4502,13 +4502,14 @@ print str(table[0]) finally: table.close() -def from_csv(csvfile, to_disk=False, filename=None, field_names=None, extra_fields=None, dbf_type='db3', memo_size=64, min_field_size=1): +def from_csv(csvfile, to_disk=False, filename=None, field_names=None, extra_fields=None, dbf_type='db3', memo_size=64, min_field_size=1, + delimiter=','): """creates a Character table from a csv file to_disk will create a table with the same name filename will be used if provided field_names default to f0, f1, f2, etc, unless specified (list) extra_fields can be used to add additional fields -- should be normal field specifiers (list)""" - reader = csv.reader(open(csvfile)) + reader = csv.reader(open(csvfile), delimiter=delimiter) if field_names: field_names = ['%s M' % fn for fn in field_names] else: