Python Write a list into csv, can't put values into a column

Question

I have this list of countries:

country = ['Togo', 'Nauru', 'Palestine, State of', 'Malawi']

I'm trying to write this into a csv:

with open('temp.csv', 'wt') as output_write:
    csvout = csv.writer(output_write)
    csvout.writerow(country)
    output_write.close()

However the output puts the values into a row rather than a column in csv. Can someone please let me know how to change it?

Thanks in advance!

I followed some of the suggestions below and the output has empty lines between rows:

The code I used:

import csv
country = ['Togo', 'Nauru', 'Palestine, State of', 'Malawi']
with open('temp.csv', 'wt') as output_write:
    csvout = csv.writer(output_write)
    for item in country:
        csvout.writerow((item, ))

Update:

I figured the reason that I'm getting an empty line because each row is because windows interpret a new line differently. The code that finally work for me is:

import csv
country = ['Togo', 'Nauru', 'Palestine, State of', 'Malawi']
with open('temp.csv', 'w', newline = '') as output_write:
    csvout = csv.writer(output_write)
    for item in country:
        csvout.writerow((item, ))

Found a related post regarding the empty row:

python empty row

The name of the function you are calling is `writerow`. Why do you expect that to write a column? — Shadow, Nov 21 '17 at 03:36
I agree with @Shadow, the function's name is clearly that it write a row rather than column — You're awesome, Nov 21 '17 at 03:40

Foxan Ng · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-21T03:51:49.650

2

You have to iterate through the list if you want to write each item to a separate line:

import csv

country = ['Togo', 'Nauru', 'Palestine, State of', 'Malawi']

with open('temp.csv', 'wt') as output_write:
    csvout = csv.writer(output_write, delimiter=',')
    for c in country:
         csvout.writerow([c])

edited Nov 21 '17 at 03:51

answered Nov 21 '17 at 03:43

Foxan Ng

6,883
4
34
41

1

It may or may not cause an error - but the `with` usage closes the file. Doing it manually is either erroneous or redundant. – Shadow Nov 21 '17 at 03:47
Thank you. However this produces an empty line between each record. Any way to eliminate the empty lines? – vivi11130704 Nov 21 '17 at 03:49
@vivi11130704 I don't see empty lines in my case (except the ending one). – Foxan Ng Nov 21 '17 at 03:52
I update my original post to include a screenshot of what I'm getting. Not sure why I'm getting different results than everyone else. I'm using jupyter notebook. – vivi11130704 Nov 21 '17 at 03:58
@Shadow it won't crash, as I found out :) https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39600786/why-can-you-close-a-file-object-more-than-once – roganjosh Nov 21 '17 at 04:12
@vivi11130704 Can you double check by opening the csv file using text editor / other IDE? I'm also using Jupyter notebook. – Foxan Ng Nov 21 '17 at 04:14
@vivi11130704 open the file in `wb` mode, not `w`. On Windows, writing to CSV will include blank lines if you don't open in `wb` mode. – roganjosh Nov 21 '17 at 04:15
@roganjosh fair enough. Guess it's the second one then :P – Shadow Nov 21 '17 at 04:51

Arun · Answer 2 · 2018-07-23T04:31:40.763

1

Try the following:

country = ['Togo', 'Nauru', 'Palestine, State of', 'Malawi']
with open('temp.csv', 'wt') as output_write:
    csvout = csv.writer(output_write, lineterminator='\n')
    for item in country:
        csvout.writerow((item, ))

edited Jul 23 '18 at 04:31

answered Nov 21 '17 at 03:37

Arun

1,933
2
28
46

2

That's much better :) – Shadow Nov 21 '17 at 03:46
Thank you. However this produces an empty line between each record. Any way to eliminate the empty lines? – vivi11130704 Nov 21 '17 at 03:49
1

No it's not generating any empty lines @vivi11130704. I just ran it – yash Nov 21 '17 at 03:51
@vivi11130704: I have run the code in Jupyter notebook. The csv generated does not have empty lines. Maybe the problem of your csv reader? Can you open generated CSV file in a plain text editor? – Arun Nov 21 '17 at 04:16
1

To prevent empty lines, use `csvout = csv.writer(output_write, lineterminator="\n")`. [Source](https://stackoverflow.com/a/9845731/4860123) – thibautg Jul 19 '18 at 09:53

srikavineehari · Answer 3 · 2017-11-21T06:13:14.080

1

Try this:

import csv

countries = ['Togo', 'Nauru', 'Palestine, State of', 'Malawi']

with open('temp.csv', 'w') as output_write:
    csvout = csv.writer(output_write, lineterminator='\n')
    for country in countries:
         csvout.writerow([country])

edited Nov 21 '17 at 06:13

answered Nov 21 '17 at 04:05

srikavineehari

2,502
1
11
21

Python Write a list into csv, can't put values into a column

3 Answers3