fgetcsv in PHP

fgetcsv — Gets line from file pointer and parse for CSV fields
Syntax:

array fgetcsv ( resource $handle [, int $length = 0 [, string $delimiter = "," [, string $enclosure = '"' [, string $escape = "\\" ]]]] )
Similar to fgets() except that fgetcsv() parses the line it reads for fields in CSV format and returns an array containing the fields read.

Parameters:

handle
A valid file pointer to a file successfully opened by fopen(), popen(), or fsockopen().

length
Must be greater than the longest line (in characters) to be found in the CSV file (allowing for trailing line-end characters). It became optional in PHP 5. Omitting this parameter (or setting it to 0 in PHP 5.1.0 and later) the maximum line length is not limited, which is slightly slower.

delimiter
Set the field delimiter (one character only).

enclosure
Set the field enclosure character (one character only).

escape
Set the escape character (one character only). Defaults as a backslash.

Return values: Returns an indexed array containing the fields read.

Note:
A blank line in a CSV file will be returned as an array comprising a single null field, and will not be treated as an error.
Note: If PHP is not properly recognizing the line endings when reading files either on or created by a Macintosh computer, enabling the auto_detect_line_endings run-time configuration option may help resolve the problem.
fgetcsv() returns NULL if an invalid handle is supplied or FALSE on other errors, including end of file.

Changelog ¶

Version Description
5.3.0 The escape parameter was added
5.1.0 The length is now optional. Default is 0, meaning no length limit.
4.3.5 fgetcsv() is now binary safe


Example #1 Read and print the entire contents of a CSV file

<?php
$row = 1;
if (($handle = fopen("test.csv", "r")) !== FALSE) {
    while (($data = fgetcsv($handle, 1000, ",")) !== FALSE) {
        $num = count($data);
        echo "<p> $num fields in line $row: <br /></p>\n";
        $row++;
        for ($c=0; $c < $num; $c++) {
            echo $data[$c] . "<br />\n";
        }
    }
    fclose($handle);
}
?>


Note:
Locale setting is taken into account by this function. If LANG is e.g. en_US.UTF-8, files in one-byte encoding are read wrong by this function.