CSV processing

Read CSV records

Reads standard CSV records into csv::StringRecord — a weakly typed data representation which expects valid UTF-8 rows. Alternatively, csv::ByteRecord makes no assumptions about UTF-8.

use csv::Error;

fn main() -> Result<(), Error> {
    let csv = "year,make,model,description
		1948,Porsche,356,Luxury sports car
		1967,Ford,Mustang fastback 1967,American car";

    let mut reader = csv::Reader::from_reader(csv.as_bytes());
    for record in reader.records() {
        let record = record?;
        println!(
            "In {}, {} built the {} model. It is a {}.",
            &record[0],
            &record[1],
            &record[2],
            &record[3]
        );
    }

    Ok(())
}

Serde deserializes data into strongly type structures. See the csv::Reader::deserialize method.

use serde::Deserialize;
#[derive(Deserialize)]
struct Record {
    year: u16,
    make: String,
    model: String,
    description: String,
}

fn main() -> Result<(), csv::Error> {
    let csv = "year,make,model,description
1948,Porsche,356,Luxury sports car
1967,Ford,Mustang fastback 1967,American car";

    let mut reader = csv::Reader::from_reader(csv.as_bytes());

    for record in reader.deserialize() {
        let record: Record = record?;
        println!(
            "In {}, {} built the {} model. It is a {}.",
            record.year,
            record.make,
            record.model,
            record.description
        );
    }

    Ok(())
}

Read CSV records with different delimiter

Reads CSV records with a tab delimiter.

use csv::Error;
use serde::Deserialize;
#[derive(Debug, Deserialize)]
struct Record {
    name: String,
    place: String,
    #[serde(deserialize_with = "csv::invalid_option")]
    id: Option<u64>,
}

use csv::ReaderBuilder;

fn main() -> Result<(), Error> {
    let data = "name\tplace\tid\n\
        Mark\tMelbourne\t46\n\
        Ashley\tZurich\t92";

    let mut reader = ReaderBuilder::new().delimiter(b'\t').from_reader(data.as_bytes());
    for result in reader.deserialize::<Record>() {
        println!("{:?}", result?);
    }

    Ok(())
}

Filter CSV records matching a predicate

Returns only the rows from data with a field that matches query.

use error_chain::error_chain;

use std::io;

error_chain!{
    foreign_links {
        Io(std::io::Error);
        CsvError(csv::Error);
    }
}

fn main() -> Result<()> {
    let query = "CA";
    let data = "\
City,State,Population,Latitude,Longitude
Kenai,AK,7610,60.5544444,-151.2583333
Oakman,AL,,33.7133333,-87.3886111
Sandfort,AL,,32.3380556,-85.2233333
West Hollywood,CA,37031,34.0900000,-118.3608333";

    let mut rdr = csv::ReaderBuilder::new().from_reader(data.as_bytes());
    let mut wtr = csv::Writer::from_writer(io::stdout());

    wtr.write_record(rdr.headers()?)?;

    for result in rdr.records() {
        let record = result?;
        if record.iter().any(|field| field == query) {
            wtr.write_record(&record)?;
        }
    }

    wtr.flush()?;
    Ok(())
}

Disclaimer: this example has been adapted from the csv crate tutorial.

Handle invalid CSV data with Serde

CSV files often contain invalid data. For these cases, the csv crate provides a custom deserializer, csv::invalid_option, which automatically converts invalid data to None values.

use csv::Error;
use serde::Deserialize;

#[derive(Debug, Deserialize)]
struct Record {
    name: String,
    place: String,
    #[serde(deserialize_with = "csv::invalid_option")]
    id: Option<u64>,
}

fn main() -> Result<(), Error> {
    let data = "name,place,id
mark,sydney,46.5
ashley,zurich,92
akshat,delhi,37
alisha,colombo,xyz";

    let mut rdr = csv::Reader::from_reader(data.as_bytes());
    for result in rdr.deserialize() {
        let record: Record = result?;
        println!("{:?}", record);
    }

    Ok(())
}

Serialize records to CSV

This example shows how to serialize a Rust tuple. csv::writer supports automatic serialization from Rust types into CSV records. write_record writes a simple record containing string data only. Data with more complex values such as numbers, floats, and options use serialize. Since CSV writer uses internal buffer, always explicitly flush when done.

use error_chain::error_chain;

use std::io;

error_chain! {
    foreign_links {
        CSVError(csv::Error);
        IOError(std::io::Error);
   }
}

fn main() -> Result<()> {
    let mut wtr = csv::Writer::from_writer(io::stdout());

    wtr.write_record(&["Name", "Place", "ID"])?;

    wtr.serialize(("Mark", "Sydney", 87))?;
    wtr.serialize(("Ashley", "Dublin", 32))?;
    wtr.serialize(("Akshat", "Delhi", 11))?;

    wtr.flush()?;
    Ok(())
}

Serialize records to CSV using Serde

The following example shows how to serialize custom structs as CSV records using the serde crate.

use error_chain::error_chain;
use serde::Serialize;
use std::io;

error_chain! {
   foreign_links {
       IOError(std::io::Error);
       CSVError(csv::Error);
   }
}

#[derive(Serialize)]
struct Record<'a> {
    name: &'a str,
    place: &'a str,
    id: u64,
}

fn main() -> Result<()> {
    let mut wtr = csv::Writer::from_writer(io::stdout());

    let rec1 = Record { name: "Mark", place: "Melbourne", id: 56};
    let rec2 = Record { name: "Ashley", place: "Sydney", id: 64};
    let rec3 = Record { name: "Akshat", place: "Delhi", id: 98};

    wtr.serialize(rec1)?;
    wtr.serialize(rec2)?;
    wtr.serialize(rec3)?;

    wtr.flush()?;

    Ok(())
}

Transform CSV column

Transform a CSV file containing a color name and a hex color into one with a color name and an rgb color. Utilizes the csv crate to read and write the csv file, and serde to deserialize and serialize the rows to and from bytes.

See csv::Reader::deserialize, serde::Deserialize, and std::str::FromStr

use error_chain::error_chain;
use csv::{Reader, Writer};
use serde::{de, Deserialize, Deserializer};
use std::str::FromStr;

error_chain! {
   foreign_links {
       CsvError(csv::Error);
       ParseInt(std::num::ParseIntError);
       CsvInnerError(csv::IntoInnerError<Writer<Vec<u8>>>);
       IO(std::fmt::Error);
       UTF8(std::string::FromUtf8Error);
   }
}

#[derive(Debug)]
struct HexColor {
    red: u8,
    green: u8,
    blue: u8,
}

#[derive(Debug, Deserialize)]
struct Row {
    color_name: String,
    color: HexColor,
}

impl FromStr for HexColor {
    type Err = Error;

    fn from_str(hex_color: &str) -> std::result::Result<Self, Self::Err> {
        let trimmed = hex_color.trim_matches('#');
        if trimmed.len() != 6 {
            Err("Invalid length of hex string".into())
        } else {
            Ok(HexColor {
                red: u8::from_str_radix(&trimmed[..2], 16)?,
                green: u8::from_str_radix(&trimmed[2..4], 16)?,
                blue: u8::from_str_radix(&trimmed[4..6], 16)?,
            })
        }
    }
}

impl<'de> Deserialize<'de> for HexColor {
    fn deserialize<D>(deserializer: D) -> std::result::Result<Self, D::Error>
    where
        D: Deserializer<'de>,
    {
        let s = String::deserialize(deserializer)?;
        FromStr::from_str(&s).map_err(de::Error::custom)
    }
}

fn main() -> Result<()> {
    let data = "color_name,color
red,#ff0000
green,#00ff00
blue,#0000FF
periwinkle,#ccccff
magenta,#ff00ff"
        .to_owned();
    let mut out = Writer::from_writer(vec![]);
    let mut reader = Reader::from_reader(data.as_bytes());
    for result in reader.deserialize::<Row>() {
        let res = result?;
        out.serialize((
            res.color_name,
            res.color.red,
            res.color.green,
            res.color.blue,
        ))?;
    }
    let written = String::from_utf8(out.into_inner()?)?;
    assert_eq!(Some("magenta,255,0,255"), written.lines().last());
    println!("{}", written);
    Ok(())
}