How can I split a comma-delimited string when the fields can have commas in them?

dbetz has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Normally I would use split on ',', but that will not work because of the comma embedded within certain fields. Is there a "perl" way to parse this into its proper fields?

"R",     "2164",     "27-2164",     "270102",
"Add Terminal Server to John, Jane, and George's PC's",
"3/13/00",    "3/27/00",    "00/00/00",    "02:00:00", 
"Jane Doe",     " 3 - Released", "Jane Doe"
[download]

Edited by davido: Added code tags and more legible formatting.

Originally posted as a Categorized Question.

Comment on How can I split a comma-delimited string when the fields can have commas in them? Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: How can I split a comma-delimited string when the fields can have commas in them? by chromatic (Archbishop) on Mar 20, 2000 at 23:18 UTC
The best answer is to use Text::CSV from CPAN. Otherwise, you'll have to craft a regex which can handle obscure cases like commas between quotes, escaped quotes within quotes, and other funny stuff like that. One possibility is: `$string =~ m!"?([^,])"?(?:=,)!;` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: How can I split a comma-delimited string when the fields can have commas in them? by turnstep (Parson) on Mar 29, 2000 at 22:13 UTC
Here's an answer from Mastering Regular Expressions: `sub parse_csv { my $text = shift; ## record containing comma-separated values my @new = (); push(@new, $+) while $text =~ m{ ## the first part groups the phrase inside the quotes "([^\"\\](?:\\.[^\"\\])*)",? \| ([^,]+),? \| , }gx; push(@new, undef) if substr($text, -1,1) eq ','; return @new; ## list of values that were comma-spearated } ## Use like this: @goodlist = parse_csv($csvlist);` [download] Ugly, to be sure, but the complexity level really kicks up a notch when you add the delimiters into the fields themselves. Also, the above snippet allows quotes inside the fields, as long as they are backslashed.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: How can I split a comma-delimited string when the fields can have commas in them? by Anonymous Monk on Mar 08, 2002 at 18:07 UTC
How about `pop:s/^"//;chop;split'","';` [download] It doesn't handle any escaped quotes but you end with the data in @_ David Pardo Originally posted as a Categorized Answer.	[reply] [d/l]

Back to Seekers of Perl Wisdom