Csv Perl Reference Documentation

CkCsv

Current Version: 10.1.2

A class for reading and updating CSV files. Provides methods for accessing cell contents by name or index, updating cells, reading and setting column names, etc.

Object Creation

$obj = chilkat::CkCsv->new();

Properties

AutoTrim
# $boolVal is a boolean
$boolVal = $csv->get_AutoTrim();
$csv->put_AutoTrim($boolVal);

If 1, then the strings returned by GetCell and GetCellByName are auto-trimmed of whitespace from both ends.

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Crlf
# $boolVal is a boolean
$boolVal = $csv->get_Crlf();
$csv->put_Crlf($boolVal);

If 1, then CRLF line endings are used when saving the CSV to a file or to a string (i.e. for the methods SaveFile, SaveFile2, SaveToString). If 0 then bare LF line-endings are used.

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DebugLogFilePath
# $strVal is a string
# $ckStr is a CkString
$csv->get_DebugLogFilePath($ckStr);
$strVal = $csv->debugLogFilePath();
$csv->put_DebugLogFilePath($strVal);

If set to a file path, this property logs the LastErrorText of each Chilkat method or property call to the specified file. This logging helps identify the context and history of Chilkat calls leading up to any crash or hang, aiding in debugging.

Enabling the VerboseLogging property provides more detailed information. This property is mainly used for debugging rare instances where a Chilkat method call causes a hang or crash, which should generally not happen.

Possible causes of hangs include:

  • A timeout property set to 0, indicating an infinite timeout.
  • A hang occurring within an event callback in the application code.
  • An internal bug in the Chilkat code causing the hang.

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Delimiter
# $strVal is a string
# $ckStr is a CkString
$csv->get_Delimiter($ckStr);
$strVal = $csv->delimiter();
$csv->put_Delimiter($strVal);

The character that separates fields in a record. It is a comma by default. If the Delimiter property is not explicitly set, the CSV component will detect the delimiter when loading a CSV. (Semicolons are typically used in locales where the comma is used as a decimal point.)

Note 1: If the default comma delimiter is not desired when creating a new CSV, make sure to set this property before adding rows/columns to the CSV.

Note 2: If the application explicitly sets the delimiter to the vertical bar character ("|"), and if the EnableQuotes property was never explicitly set, then EnableQuotes will default to 0. This is because when vertical bars are used, quotes are most likely to be treated the same as other characters.

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EnableQuotes
# $boolVal is a boolean
$boolVal = $csv->get_EnableQuotes();
$csv->put_EnableQuotes($boolVal);
Introduced in version 9.5.0.71

If 1, then the double-quote characters cause the quoted content, including CR's, LF's, and delimiter chars to be treated as normal text when reading/writing CSVs. The default is 1.

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EscapeBackslash
# $boolVal is a boolean
$boolVal = $csv->get_EscapeBackslash();
$csv->put_EscapeBackslash($boolVal);
Introduced in version 9.5.0.44

If 1, then the backslash character is treated as an escape character when reading/writing CSVs. The default is 0.

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HasColumnNames
# $boolVal is a boolean
$boolVal = $csv->get_HasColumnNames();
$csv->put_HasColumnNames($boolVal);

Set to 1 prior to loading a CSV if the 1st record contains column names. This allows the CSV parser to correctly load the column names and not treat them as data.

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LastErrorHtml
# $strVal is a string
# $ckStr is a CkString
$csv->get_LastErrorHtml($ckStr);
$strVal = $csv->lastErrorHtml();

Provides HTML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.

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LastErrorText
# $strVal is a string
# $ckStr is a CkString
$csv->get_LastErrorText($ckStr);
$strVal = $csv->lastErrorText();

Provides plain text information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.

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LastErrorXml
# $strVal is a string
# $ckStr is a CkString
$csv->get_LastErrorXml($ckStr);
$strVal = $csv->lastErrorXml();

Provides XML-formatted information about the last called method or property. If a method call fails or behaves unexpectedly, check this property for details. Note that information is available regardless of the method call's success.

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LastMethodSuccess
# $boolVal is a boolean
$boolVal = $csv->get_LastMethodSuccess();
$csv->put_LastMethodSuccess($boolVal);

Indicates the success or failure of the most recent method call: 1 means success, 0 means failure. This property remains unchanged by property setters or getters. This method is present to address challenges in checking for null or Nothing returns in certain programming languages.

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NumColumns
# $intVal is an integer
$intVal = $csv->get_NumColumns();

The number of columns in the 1st row, which may be the row containing column names if HasColumnNames is 1.

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NumRows
# $intVal is an integer
$intVal = $csv->get_NumRows();

The number of data rows. If the CSV has column names, the 1st row is not included in the count. Also, empty lines containing only whitespace characters that follow the last non-empty row are not included.

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UncommonOptions
# $strVal is a string
# $ckStr is a CkString
$csv->get_UncommonOptions($ckStr);
$strVal = $csv->uncommonOptions();
$csv->put_UncommonOptions($strVal);
Introduced in version 9.5.0.88

This is a catch-all property to be used for uncommon needs. Chilkat may from time to time define keywords, which if present, change behavior in some way. If multiple keywords are needed, set this property to the comma separated list of keywords.

The following keywords are defined:

  • QuotedCells (v9.5.0.96) Forces all cell contents to be double-quoted when emitting the CSV to a file or string
  • QuotedColumnNames (v9.5.0.96) Forces all column names to be double-quoted when emitting the CSV to a file or string
  • EMIT_BOM (v9.5.0.93) Causes Chilkat to emit the utf-8 BOM (byte order mark) when writing the CSV to a file (assuming the CSV is written using utf-8).

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Utf8
# $boolVal is a boolean
$boolVal = $csv->get_Utf8();
$csv->put_Utf8($boolVal);

When set to 1, all "const char *" arguments are interpreted as utf-8 strings. If set to 0 (the default), then "const char *" arguments are interpreted as ANSI strings. Also, when set to 1, and Chilkat method returning a "const char *" is returning the utf-8 representation. If set to 0, all "const char *" return values are ANSI strings.

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VerboseLogging
# $boolVal is a boolean
$boolVal = $csv->get_VerboseLogging();
$csv->put_VerboseLogging($boolVal);

If set to 1, then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is 0. Verbose logging should only be used for debugging. The potentially large quantity of logged information may adversely affect peformance.

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Version
# $strVal is a string
# $ckStr is a CkString
$csv->get_Version($ckStr);
$strVal = $csv->version();

Version of the component/library, such as "10.1.0"

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Methods

DeleteColumn
# $index is an integer
$status = $csv->DeleteColumn($index);

Deletes the Nth column. (The 1st column is at index 0.)

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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DeleteColumnByName
# $columnName is a string
$status = $csv->DeleteColumnByName($columnName);

Deletes a column specified by name.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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DeleteRow
# $index is an integer
$status = $csv->DeleteRow($index);

Deletes the entire Nth row. (The 1st row is at index 0.)

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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GetCell
# $row is an integer
# $col is an integer
# $outStr is a CkString (output)
$status = $csv->GetCell($row, $col, $outStr);
$retStr = $csv->getCell($row, $col);

Returns the contents of the cell at row, col. Indexing begins at 0. (The topmost/leftmost cell is at 0,0)

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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GetCellByName
# $rowIndex is an integer
# $columnName is a string
# $outStr is a CkString (output)
$status = $csv->GetCellByName($rowIndex, $columnName, $outStr);
$retStr = $csv->getCellByName($rowIndex, $columnName);

The same as GetCell, but the column is specified by name instead of by index.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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GetColumnName
# $index is an integer
# $outStr is a CkString (output)
$status = $csv->GetColumnName($index, $outStr);
$retStr = $csv->getColumnName($index);

Returns the name of the Nth column.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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GetIndex
# $columnName is a string
$retInt = $csv->GetIndex($columnName);

Returns the column index for a given column. Returns -1 if no column exists with the columnName.

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GetNumCols
# $row is an integer
$retInt = $csv->GetNumCols($row);

Returns the number of columns for a specific row. If the row is larger than the number of rows in the CSV, a zero is returned.

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InsertColumn
# $index is an integer
$status = $csv->InsertColumn($index);
Introduced in version 9.5.0.89

Inserts a new and empty column before the Nth column. (The 1st column is at index 0.)

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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LoadFile
# $path is a string
$status = $csv->LoadFile($path);

Loads a CSV from a file. It is assumed that the CSV file contains ANSI characters.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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LoadFile2
# $filename is a string
# $charset is a string
$status = $csv->LoadFile2($filename, $charset);

Loads a CSV from a file. The charset specifies the character encoding of the CSV file. A list of supported character encodings may be found on this page: Supported Charsets.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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LoadFromString
# $csvData is a string
$status = $csv->LoadFromString($csvData);

Loads a CSV document from an in-memory string variable.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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RowMatches
# $rowIndex is an integer
# $matchPattern is a string
# $caseSensitive is a boolean
$retBool = $csv->RowMatches($rowIndex, $matchPattern, $caseSensitive);

Compares the contents of an entire row to a wildcarded match pattern where "*" can be used any number of times to match 0 or more of any character. Returns 1 if a match was found, otherwise returns 0. If caseSensitive is 1, then the pattern match is case sensitive, otherwise it is case insensitive.

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SaveFile
# $path is a string
$status = $csv->SaveFile($path);

Saves a CSV to a file. The output file is written using the ANSI character encoding.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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SaveFile2
# $filename is a string
# $charset is a string
$status = $csv->SaveFile2($filename, $charset);

Saves a CSV to a file. The charset specifies the character encoding to use for the CSV file. The text data is converted to this charset when saving. A list of supported character encodings may be found on this page: Supported Charsets.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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SaveToSb
# $sb is a CkStringBuilder
$status = $csv->SaveToSb($sb);
Introduced in version 9.5.0.93

Clears the contents of sb and writes the entire CSV into sb.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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SaveToString
# $outStr is a CkString (output)
$status = $csv->SaveToString($outStr);
$retStr = $csv->saveToString();

Returns the entire CSV as a string.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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SetCell
# $row is an integer
# $col is an integer
# $content is a string
$status = $csv->SetCell($row, $col, $content);

Sets the contents for a single cell in the CSV. The content may include any characters including CRLF's, double-quotes, and the delimiter character. The Save* methods automatically double-quote fields with special chars when saving. The Load* methods automatically parse double-quoted and/or escaped fields correctly when loading.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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SetCellByName
# $rowIndex is an integer
# $columnName is a string
# $contentStr is a string
$status = $csv->SetCellByName($rowIndex, $columnName, $contentStr);

The same as SetCell, except the column is specified by name instead of by index.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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SetColumnName
# $index is an integer
# $columnName is a string
$status = $csv->SetColumnName($index, $columnName);

Sets the name of the Nth column. The first column is at index 0. This method would only return 0 if an invalid index is passed (such as a negative number).

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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SortByColumn
# $columnName is a string
# $ascending is a boolean
# $caseSensitive is a boolean
$status = $csv->SortByColumn($columnName, $ascending, $caseSensitive);

Sorts the rows in the CSV by the contents of a specific column. If ascending is 1, the sort is in ascending order, otherwise descending order. If caseSensitive is 1 then the sorting is case sensitive.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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SortByColumnIndex
# $index is an integer
# $ascending is a boolean
# $caseSensitive is a boolean
$status = $csv->SortByColumnIndex($index, $ascending, $caseSensitive);
Introduced in version 9.5.0.83

Sorts the rows in the CSV by the contents of a specific column index. If ascending is 1, the sort is in ascending order, otherwise descending order. If caseSensitive is 1 then the sorting is case sensitive.

Returns 1 for success, 0 for failure.

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