(** csv.mli - comma separated values parser
*
- * $Id: csv.mli,v 1.1 2003-12-17 16:05:08 rich Exp $
+ * $Id: csv.mli,v 1.11 2007-04-23 16:42:33 rich Exp $
*)
type t = string list list
(** Representation of CSV files. *)
exception Bad_CSV_file of string
-(** Badly formed CSV files throw this exception: *)
+(** Badly formed CSV files throw this exception. *)
val lines : t -> int
(** Work out the number of lines in a CSV file. *)
val columns : t -> int
(** Work out the (maximum) number of columns in a CSV file. Note that each
- line may be a different length, so this finds the one with the most
- columns. *)
+ * line may be a different length, so this finds the one with the most
+ * columns.
+ *)
-val load_in : in_channel -> t
+val load_in : ?separator:char -> in_channel -> t
(** Load a CSV file.
* @param chan Input file stream
*)
-val load : string -> t
+val load : ?separator:char -> string -> t
(** Load a CSV file.
* @param filename CSV filename.
+ * If [filename] is ["-"] then load from [stdin].
*)
-val load_rows : (string list -> unit) -> in_channel -> unit
+val load_rows : ?separator:char -> (string list -> unit) -> in_channel -> unit
(** For very large CSV files which cannot be processed in memory at once,
* this function is appropriate. It parses the input one row at a time and
* calls your function once for each row.
* @param chan Input file stream.
*)
-val print : t -> unit
+val trim : ?top:bool -> ?left:bool -> ?right:bool -> ?bottom:bool -> t -> t
+(** This takes a CSV file and trims empty cells.
+ *
+ * All four of the option arguments ([~top], [~left], [~right], [~bottom])
+ * default to [true].
+ *
+ * The exact behaviour is:
+ *
+ * [~right]: If true, remove any empty cells at the right hand end of
+ * any row. The number of columns in the resulting CSV structure will
+ * not necessarily be the same for each row.
+ *
+ * [~top]: If true, remove any empty rows (no cells, or containing just empty
+ * cells) from the top of the CSV structure.
+ *
+ * [~bottom]: If true, remove any empty rows from the bottom of the
+ * CSV structure.
+ *
+ * [~left]: If true, remove any empty columns from the left of the
+ * CSV structure. Note that [~left] and [~right] are quite different:
+ * [~left] considers the whole CSV structure, whereas [~right] considers
+ * each row in isolation.
+ *)
+
+val square : t -> t
+(** Make the CSV data "square" (actually rectangular). This pads out
+ * each row with empty cells so that all rows are the same length as
+ * the longest row. After this operation, every row will have length
+ * {!Csv.columns}.
+ *)
+
+val is_square : t -> bool
+(** Return true iff the CSV is "square" (actually rectangular). This
+ * means that each row has the same number of cells.
+ *)
+
+val set_columns : int -> t -> t
+(** [set_columns cols csv] makes the CSV data square by forcing the width
+ * to the given number of [cols]. Any short rows are padded with blank
+ * cells. Any long rows are truncated.
+ *)
+
+val set_rows : int -> t -> t
+(** [set_rows rows csv] makes the CSV data have exactly [rows] rows
+ * by adding empty rows or truncating rows as necessary.
+ *
+ * Note that [set_rows] does not make the CSV square. If you want it
+ * to be square, call either {!Csv.square} or {!Csv.set_columns} after.
+ *)
+
+val set_size : int -> int -> t -> t
+(** [set_size rows cols csv] makes the CSV data square by forcing the
+ * size to [rows * cols], adding blank cells or truncating as necessary.
+ * It is the same as calling [set_columns cols (set_rows rows csv)]
+ *)
+
+val sub : int -> int -> int -> int -> t -> t
+(** [sub r c rows cols csv] returns a subset of [csv]. The subset is
+ * defined as having top left corner at row [r], column [c] (counting
+ * from [0]) and being [rows] deep and [cols] wide.
+ *
+ * The returned CSV will be square.
+ *)
+
+val compare : t -> t -> int
+(** Compare two CSV files for equality, ignoring blank cells at the end
+ * of a row, and empty rows appended to one or the other. This is
+ * "semantic" equality - roughly speaking, the two CSV files would
+ * look the same if opened in a spreadsheet program.
+ *)
+
+val concat : t list -> t
+(** Concatenate CSV files so that they appear side by side, arranged
+ * left to right across the page. Each CSV file (except the final
+ * one) is first squared.
+ *
+ * (To concatenate CSV files so that they appear from top to bottom,
+ * just use {!List.concat}).
+ *)
+
+val to_array : t -> string array array
+val of_array : string array array -> t
+(** Convenience functions to convert to and from a matrix representation.
+ * [to_array] will produce a ragged matrix (not all rows will have the
+ * same length) unless you call {!Csv.square} first.
+ *)
+
+val associate : string list -> t -> (string * string) list list
+(** [associate header data] takes a block of data and converts each
+ * row in turn into an assoc list which maps column header to data cell.
+ *
+ * Typically a spreadsheet will have the format:
+ * {v
+ * header1 header2 header3
+ * data11 data12 data13
+ * data21 data22 data23
+ * ...
+ * v}
+ *
+ * This function arranges the data into a more usable form which is
+ * robust against changes in column ordering. The output of the
+ * function is:
+ * {v
+ * [ ["header1", "data11"; "header2", "data12"; "header3", "data13"];
+ * ["header1", "data21"; "header2", "data22"; "header3", "data23"];
+ * etc. ]
+ * v}
+ *
+ * Each row is turned into an assoc list (see [List.assoc]).
+ *
+ * If a row is too short, it is padded with empty cells ([""]). If
+ * a row is too long, it is truncated.
+ *
+ * You would typically call this function as:
+ *
+ * {v
+ * let header, data = match csv with h :: d -> h, d | [] -> assert false;;
+ * let data = Csv.associate header data;;
+ * v}
+ *
+ * The header strings are shared, so the actual space in memory consumed
+ * by the spreadsheet is not much larger.
+ *)
+
+val print : ?separator:char -> t -> unit
(** Print string list list - same as [save_out stdout] *)
-val save_out : out_channel -> t -> unit
+val save_out : ?separator:char -> out_channel -> t -> unit
(** Save string list list to a channel. *)
-val save : string -> t -> unit
+val save : ?separator:char -> string -> t -> unit
(** Save string list list to a file. *)
+
+val print_readable : t -> unit
+(** Print the CSV data to [stdout] in a human-readable format. Not much
+ * is guaranteed about how the CSV is printed, except that it will be
+ * easier to follow than a "raw" output done with {!Csv.print}. This is
+ * a one-way operation. There is no easy way to parse the output of
+ * this command back into CSV data.
+ *)
+val save_out_readable : out_channel -> t -> unit
+(** As for {!Csv.print_readable}, allowing the output to be sent to a channel.
+ *)