Given an array with different types of data. Any function to convert it to proper csv line in python? If not what would be the simplest approach?

Question

I am trying to join the following array into a proper csv line (not a file)

#input array

x = [2,"Appple", "car,plane",45.2]

I tried the following

",".join(x)

But it fails as the resulting output is 2,Apple,car,plane,45.2 . It also fails due to the numbers and floats.

Expected result would be:

2,Apple,"car,plane",45.2

Have you tried using the [`csv` module](https://docs.python.org/3/library/csv.html)…? — deceze, Jun 09 '22 at 09:13
It is not clear what is the difference between "resulting output" and "expected result". — Gino Mempin, Jun 09 '22 at 09:14
"car,plane" is a single string, the resulting output treats them as separate. The expected one still treats it as a single string as it is enclosed in double quotes — Ashok Gj, Jun 09 '22 at 09:16
You can also extend your approach slightly to work for your toy example if that is the only thing you care about: `",".join([f'"{i}"' if ',' in str(i) else str(i) for i in x])` — HansQ, Jun 09 '22 at 09:25

Moritz Hartmann · Answer 1 · 2022-06-09T10:34:26.457

0

The code above will output the following string: z= "2, 'Appple', 'car,plane', 45.2"

x = [2, "Appple", "car,plane", 45.2]
z = f"{x}"
z = z.replace("[","")
z = z.replace("]", "")

edited Jun 09 '22 at 10:34

answered Jun 09 '22 at 09:23

Moritz Hartmann

My understanding of the question is that he wish to have a string which can then be inserted in the .csv. The code above will output a `z= "2, 'Appple', 'car,plane', 45.2" ` – Moritz Hartmann Jun 09 '22 at 10:26

HansQ · Answer 2 · 2022-06-09T09:33:36.983

-1

A simple approach would be using pandas: pd.DataFrame(x).to_csv(). Or using the csv module:

import csv
import io

out = io.StringIO()
writer = csv.writer(out) 
writer.writerow(x)
csv_string = out.getvalue()
out.close()

edited Jun 09 '22 at 09:33

answered Jun 09 '22 at 09:14

HansQ

Where "simple" means "include a giant dependency"… – deceze Jun 09 '22 at 09:15
@deceze and why is that a problem? Is he going to distribute his novel list to csv conversion package? – HansQ Jun 09 '22 at 09:16
1

This functionality is natively available in the `csv` module, even if it may be two more lines of code… – deceze Jun 09 '22 at 09:19
While that may be the case, it is not uncommon that somebody already has pandas installed or doesn't care installing it. – HansQ Jun 09 '22 at 09:23

2 Answers2