String replace before import

Anon

Data contained in .CSV file - fields enclosed in quotes seperated by commas

Problem - one of the FIELDS contains comma separated data, so I have to strip those out before importing.

How can I automate this task? I already have a PHP script that successfully uploads/imports the data into the MySQL database.

Procedure should be similar to the following:

Client chooses file via HTML file upload control and clicks SUBMIT.
File is passed to a function that strips out any commas found WITHIN a field.
File data is then imported into MySQL

Actually, replacing the commas with just about any character would be great, such as an HTML linebreak command.

Thanks in advance!

Ted

Anon

Hm. Are all the fields quoted and the comma-separated stuff inside one of the fields is unquoted? If so, that makes it easier - for me, anyway. (Seeing a typical line would help - without it I'm forced to assume a fair bit).

I'll take the risk of there being whitespace between the comma and the following quote. I'll replace the offending commas with a br tag. This also won't replace a rogue comma at the end of the field.

$record=preg_replace("/,(?!\s*')/",'<br>', $record);

In other words, replace all commas not followed by (possible) whitespace and a quote.

tedxas

Thanks Grumbler!

Just for clarity's sake, here's a sample of the comma delimited file (I hope this transfers correctly)

"566","FellasLastName","Dave","3800 Some Address Dr","","Sometown","TX","00000-0000","888-555-1212","hisname@hiswork.com","False","","","04/25/1955","08/01/1981","Member","Head","Wifes Name","David, Laura Beth","","04/28/2002","Class Hoppers","",""

The field in question is the one containing the names David and Laura Beth. They're separated by a comma-space combination.

Anon

And no spaces around the "real" commas. Okay..

preg_replace('/(?<!"), (?!")/', '<br>', $csvline);

Wee bit confusing, what with all the spaces and commas in there...

A comma-space combination, not preceded or followed by a ", gets replaced with an HTML linebreak.

tedxas

Thanks, G! You're a champ!