CSV file how to break lines?

Question

I've been struggling with parsing a csv file so that every new line is read as a new row. Unfortunately, I couldn't find an answer in the SO forums that addressed my problem. I opened the csv file with textEdit and saw this:

I think the problem is how to tell the compiler when to break off a new line. For example, right now, it will read z (row 2) as being on the previous row. Please take a look at my code and output below (i am using Xcode v 9.2).

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <sstream>
#include <vector>
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    ifstream ip("ebid2016.csv");
    if (!ip.is_open()) {
        cout << "can't open file" << '\n';
    }
    string title;
    string articleId;
    string department;
    string closeDate;
    string bid;
    string inventoryId;
    string vehicleId;
    string receiptNum;
    string fund;
    string nothing;


    while(ip.good()){

        getline(ip,title,'\t');
        getline(ip,articleId,'\t');
        getline(ip,department,'\t');
        getline(ip,closeDate,'\t');
        getline(ip,bid,'\t');
        getline(ip,inventoryId,'\t');
        getline(ip,vehicleId,'\t');
        getline(ip,receiptNum,'\t');
        getline(ip,fund,'\t');

        cout << "Article Title:" << title << '\n';
        cout << "Article ID:" << articleId << '\n';
        cout << "Department:" << department << '\n';
        cout << "Close Date:" << closeDate << '\n';
        cout << "Bid:" << bid << '\n';
        cout << "Inventory ID:" << inventoryId << '\n';
        cout << "Vehicle ID:" << vehicleId << '\n';
        cout << "Receipt Number:" << receiptNum << '\n';
        cout << "Fund:" << fund << '\n';

        cout << "------------------" << '\n';
    }
    ip.close();
}

Output:

Article Title:ArticleTitle
Article ID:ArticleID
Department:Department 
Close Date:CloseDate 
Bid:WinningBid 
Inventory ID:InventoryID
Vehicle ID:VehicleID
Receipt Number:ReceiptNumber 
Fund:Fund
z <------------why does z show up here?
------------------
Article Title:97991
Article ID:POLICE PROPERTY AND EVIDENCE UNCLAIMED
Department:12/1/16
Close Date:$27.00 
Bid:PPEU-031C-149
Inventory ID:
Vehicle ID:3689905552
Receipt Number:Enterprise
Table
Fund:97990
------------------ etc.

Perhaps: `getline(ip,fund,'\t');` --> `getline(ip,fund,'\n');` — Support Ukraine, Jan 10 '18 at 21:33
This is not a duplicate; OP is not writing a CSV parser; instead they are writing a custom text file parser for this particular format. — pseudocoder, Jan 10 '18 at 21:35
Also, for why not to use `while(ip.good()){` see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5431941/why-is-while-feof-file-always-wrong — , Jan 10 '18 at 21:37
Indeed @NeilButterworth it appears to be tab delimited. Maybe it's appropriate to edit the question title? — pseudocoder, Jan 10 '18 at 21:37
Not sure we want to go down the road of suggesting random things that could be done to improve this project. — pseudocoder, Jan 10 '18 at 21:38

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 10 '18 at 21:34

1

I think the fix is:

getline(ip,fund,'\n');

You are reading the Fund field until it reaches the next tab character (\t), when in actuality you want to read to the next newline.

answered Jan 10 '18 at 21:34

pseudocoder

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Thanks. Your approach worked for the first row, but the rest of the rows lost all their formatting and were printed as is: eg `z,97991,POLICE PROPERTY AND EVIDENCE UNCLAIMED,12/1/16,$27.00 ,PPEU-031C-149,,3689905552,Enterprise` – I Like Jan 10 '18 at 21:45
Sounds like a new problem and a new question. Considering the downvotes, I suggest you try a new question and don't say you want to "parse CSV" since you are parsing a tab delimited text file in a specifically formatted way. – pseudocoder Jan 19 '18 at 21:09

CSV file how to break lines?

1 Answers1