Create a CSV file

Create a CSV file | Groovy Examples

Create a CSV file

June 21st, 2010
5 Comments

For this example, let’s assume we have an array of maps as our data.

            
              def
            
             planets 
            
              =
            
            
              [
            
            
              [
            
            id:
            
              '1'
            
            ,color:
            
              'red'
            
            ,planet:
            
              'mars'
            
            ,description:
            
              'Mars, the "red" planet'
            
            
              ]
            
            ,
    
            
              [
            
            id:
            
              '2'
            
            ,color:
            
              'green'
            
            ,planet:
            
              'neptune'
            
            ,description:
            
              'Neptune, the "green" planet'
            
            
              ]
            
            ,
    
            
              [
            
            id:
            
              '3'
            
            ,color:
            
              'blue'
            
            ,planet:
            
              'earth'
            
            ,description:
            
              'Earth, the "blue" planet'
            
            
              ]
            
            ,

            
              ]
            
          

Next, we can create our CSV file as follows:

            
              def
            
             out 
            
              =
            
            
              new
            
            
              File
            
            
              (
            
            
              'planets.csv'
            
            
              )
            
            
planets.
            
              each
            
            
              {
            
            
              def
            
             row 
            
              =
            
            
              [
            
            it.
            
              id
            
            , it.
            
              color
            
            , it.
            
              planet
            
            
              ]
            
            
    out.
            
              append
            
             row.
            
              join
            
            
              (
            
            
              ','
            
            
              )
            
            
    out.
            
              append
            
            
              '
              
                \n
              
              '
            
            
              }
            
          

Which creates a file with the following content:

        1,red,mars
2,green,neptune
3,blue,earth

      

However, this does not contain our description field. If you need to also handle double quotes and commas in your data then you can:

1. qualify your values with a double quote, and
2. replace double quotes in your data with an escaped double quote.

In this case our code may look like:

            
              def
            
             out 
            
              =
            
            
              new
            
            
              File
            
            
              (
            
            
              'planets.csv'
            
            
              )
            
            
planets.
            
              each
            
            
              {
            
            
              def
            
             row 
            
              =
            
            
              [
            
            it.
            
              id
            
            , it.
            
              color
            
            , it.
            
              planet
            
            , it.
            
              description
            
            
              ]
            
            
                        .
            
              collect
            
            
              {
            
            
              '"'
            
            
              +
            
             it.
            
              replace
            
            
              (
            
            
              '"'
            
            ,
            
              '""'
            
            
              )
            
            
              +
            
            
              '"'
            
            
              }
            
            
    out.
            
              append
            
             row.
            
              join
            
            
              (
            
            
              ','
            
            
              )
            
            
    out.
            
              append
            
            
              '
              
                \n
              
              '
            
            
              }
            
          

Which creates a file with the following content:

        "1","red","mars","Mars, the ""red"" planet"
"2","green","neptune","Neptune, the ""blue"" planet"
"3","blue","earth","Earth, the ""blue"" planet"
      

Create a CSV file