Import .csv data into a array

Question

I'm using Objective-C the last years. Now I'm trying the Xcode 6 beta 4 with swift.

I want to import a .csv form my webserver to an array. My old code in Objective-C was:

NSString *stringURL = @"https:// [URL] /versionen/versionen.csv";
NSURL  *url = [NSURL URLWithString:stringURL];
NSData *urlData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:url];
if ( urlData )
{
    NSString *csvResponseString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:urlData   encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
    NSArray         *MZVersionDatenZeilen = [csvResponseString componentsSeparatedByString:@"\n"];
    NSEnumerator    *MZVersionEnumerator = [MZVersionDatenZeilen objectEnumerator];
    NSMutableArray  *MZVersionDatenArray = [NSMutableArray arrayWithCapacity:[MZVersionDatenZeilen count]];
    NSString        *MZVersionZeile;
    while (MZVersionZeile = [MZVersionEnumerator nextObject])
    {
        [MZVersionDatenArray addObject:[MZVersionZeile componentsSeparatedByString:@";"]];
    }
}

How could I do this in Swift? Is there a best practices - recommendation?

Answer 1

Every answer requires you to install/download a 3rd party utility, but that may not be optimal if the file you're working with is extremely simple or you work at an company that restricts 3rd party code.

So I figured I would just post incredibly basic, routine CSV file handling code that people can use as a base and modify as needed for simple CSV handling.

do {
    let file = try String(contentsOf: fileUrl)
    let rows = file.components(separatedBy: .newlines)
    for row in rows {
        let fields = row.replacingOccurrences(of: "\"", with: "").components(separatedBy: ",")
        print(fields)
    }
} catch {
    print(error)
}

This will handle any CSV files that you know won't have quotes and commas as part of the content of a field, which in my case are most CSV files. Anything more complex than this, I recommend using one of the libraries posted in the other answers.

I just hope this saves someone a bit of typing.