How to create an array from a CSV file using PHP and the fgetcsv function

Question

Like you said in your title, fgetcsv is the way to go. It's pretty darn easy to use.

$file = fopen('myCSVFile.csv', 'r');
while (($line = fgetcsv($file)) !== FALSE) {
  //$line is an array of the csv elements
  print_r($line);
}
fclose($file);

You'll want to put more error checking in there in case fopen() fails, but this works to read a CSV file line by line and parse the line into an array.

I think the str_getcsv() syntax is much cleaner, it also doesn't require the CSV to be stored in the file system.

$csv = str_getcsv(file_get_contents('myCSVFile.csv'));

echo '<pre>';
print_r($csv);
echo '</pre>';

Or for a line by line solution:

$csv = array();
$lines = file('myCSVFile.csv', FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES);

foreach ($lines as $key => $value)
{
    $csv[$key] = str_getcsv($value);
}

echo '<pre>';
print_r($csv);
echo '</pre>';

Or for a line by line solution with no str_getcsv():

$csv = array();
$file = fopen('myCSVFile.csv', 'r');

while (($result = fgetcsv($file)) !== false)
{
    $csv[] = $result;
}

fclose($file);

echo '<pre>';
print_r($csv);
echo '</pre>';

I have created a function which will convert a csv string to an array. The function knows how to escape special characters, and it works with or without enclosure chars.

$dataArray = csvstring_to_array( file_get_contents('Address.csv'));

I tried it with your csv sample and it works as expected!

function csvstring_to_array($string, $separatorChar = ',', $enclosureChar = '"', $newlineChar = "\n") {
    // @author: Klemen Nagode
    $array = array();
    $size = strlen($string);
    $columnIndex = 0;
    $rowIndex = 0;
    $fieldValue="";
    $isEnclosured = false;
    for($i=0; $i<$size;$i++) {

        $char = $string{$i};
        $addChar = "";

        if($isEnclosured) {
            if($char==$enclosureChar) {

                if($i+1<$size && $string{$i+1}==$enclosureChar){
                    // escaped char
                    $addChar=$char;
                    $i++; // dont check next char
                }else{
                    $isEnclosured = false;
                }
            }else {
                $addChar=$char;
            }
        }else {
            if($char==$enclosureChar) {
                $isEnclosured = true;
            }else {

                if($char==$separatorChar) {

                    $array[$rowIndex][$columnIndex] = $fieldValue;
                    $fieldValue="";

                    $columnIndex++;
                }elseif($char==$newlineChar) {
                    echo $char;
                    $array[$rowIndex][$columnIndex] = $fieldValue;
                    $fieldValue="";
                    $columnIndex=0;
                    $rowIndex++;
                }else {
                    $addChar=$char;
                }
            }
        }
        if($addChar!=""){
            $fieldValue.=$addChar;

        }
    }

    if($fieldValue) { // save last field
        $array[$rowIndex][$columnIndex] = $fieldValue;
    }
    return $array;
}

$arrayFromCSV =  array_map('str_getcsv', file('/path/to/file.csv'));

Old question, but still relevant for PHP 5.2 users. str_getcsv is available from PHP 5.3. I've written a small function that works with fgetcsv itself.

Below is my function from https://gist.github.com/4152628:

function parse_csv_file($csvfile) {
    $csv = Array();
    $rowcount = 0;
    if (($handle = fopen($csvfile, "r")) !== FALSE) {
        $max_line_length = defined('MAX_LINE_LENGTH') ? MAX_LINE_LENGTH : 10000;
        $header = fgetcsv($handle, $max_line_length);
        $header_colcount = count($header);
        while (($row = fgetcsv($handle, $max_line_length)) !== FALSE) {
            $row_colcount = count($row);
            if ($row_colcount == $header_colcount) {
                $entry = array_combine($header, $row);
                $csv[] = $entry;
            }
            else {
                error_log("csvreader: Invalid number of columns at line " . ($rowcount + 2) . " (row " . ($rowcount + 1) . "). Expected=$header_colcount Got=$row_colcount");
                return null;
            }
            $rowcount++;
        }
        //echo "Totally $rowcount rows found\n";
        fclose($handle);
    }
    else {
        error_log("csvreader: Could not read CSV \"$csvfile\"");
        return null;
    }
    return $csv;
}

Returns

Begin Reading CSV

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [vid] => 
            [agency] => 
            [division] => Division
            [country] => 
            [station] => Duty Station
            [unit] => Unit / Department
            [grade] => 
            [funding] => Fund Code
            [number] => Country Office Position Number
            [wnumber] => Wings Position Number
            [title] => Position Title
            [tor] => Tor Text
            [tor_file] => 
            [status] => 
            [datetime] => Entry on Wings
            [laction] => 
            [supervisor] => Supervisor Index Number
            [asupervisor] => Alternative Supervisor Index
            [author] => 
            [category] => 
            [parent] => Reporting to Which Position Number
            [vacant] => Status (Vacant / Filled)
            [index] => Index Number
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [vid] => 
            [agency] => WFP
            [division] => KEN Kenya, The Republic Of
            [country] => 
            [station] => Nairobi
            [unit] => Human Resources Officer P4
            [grade] => P-4
            [funding] => 5000001
            [number] => 22018154
            [wnumber] => 
            [title] => Human Resources Officer P4
            [tor] => 
            [tor_file] => 
            [status] => 
            [datetime] => 
            [laction] => 
            [supervisor] => 
            [asupervisor] => 
            [author] => 
            [category] => Professional
            [parent] => 
            [vacant] => 
            [index] => xxxxx
        )
)