> The first line "this "item" is bad", "this item is ok" is correct CSV
> format.  There is no field delimiter (comma) between the two quotes around
> "item".  Either your ODBC handler has a bug or you misconfiguring it.
> Please post your code that configures your ODBC reader.  Your other option
> is to write a CSV line parser yourself, which isn't too difficult to do.
>
> Mike Ober.
>
> "rob" <rmdiv2***@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1146296378.467061.100080@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> > I am using Odbc to read cvs files. Unfortunately, some cvs files are
> > not formated correctly (out of my control). One particular problem is
> > that a quote within an item is not put in double quotes, i.e. the file
> > says
> >
> > "this "item" is bad", "this item is ok"
> >
> > rather then
> >
> > "this ""item"" is bad", "this item is ok"
> >
> > odbc now thinks 'this ' is the first item rather then 'this "item" is
> > bad'. Excel reads the file just fine, though. Is there some workaround,
> > short of fixing the file myself, to make the driver more error
> > tolerant? If it helps anything bellow is how I read the excel file.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> >
> > connectionString = @"Driver={Microsoft Text Driver (*.txt;
> > *.csv)};DBQ=" + Path.GetDirectoryName(filename);
> > connection = new OdbcConnection(connectionString);
> > connection.Open();
> > command = new OdbcCommand("Select * FROM " +
> > Path.GetFileName(filename), connection);
> > reader = command.ExecuteReader();
> >
> >

> I'd disagree based on
> http://www.creativyst.com/Doc/Articles/CSV/CSV01.htm
> and
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values
>
> Where are you getting that this is correct? It also looks like there's
> a space between the comma and the next quote. This looks like typical
> bad exports you encounter in the wild where people just drop all
> contents between quotes.
>
> Bruce Dunwiddie
> http://www.csvreader.com
>
> Michael D. Ober wrote:
> > The first line "this "item" is bad", "this item is ok" is correct CSV
> > format.  There is no field delimiter (comma) between the two quotes around
> > "item".  Either your ODBC handler has a bug or you misconfiguring it.
> > Please post your code that configures your ODBC reader.  Your other option
> > is to write a CSV line parser yourself, which isn't too difficult to do.
> >
> > Mike Ober.
> >
> > "rob" <rmdiv2***@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> > news:1146296378.467061.100080@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> > > I am using Odbc to read cvs files. Unfortunately, some cvs files are
> > > not formated correctly (out of my control). One particular problem is
> > > that a quote within an item is not put in double quotes, i.e. the file
> > > says
> > >
> > > "this "item" is bad", "this item is ok"
> > >
> > > rather then
> > >
> > > "this ""item"" is bad", "this item is ok"
> > >
> > > odbc now thinks 'this ' is the first item rather then 'this "item" is
> > > bad'. Excel reads the file just fine, though. Is there some workaround,
> > > short of fixing the file myself, to make the driver more error
> > > tolerant? If it helps anything bellow is how I read the excel file.
> > >
> > > Thanks
> > >
> > >
> > > connectionString = @"Driver={Microsoft Text Driver (*.txt;
> > > *.csv)};DBQ=" + Path.GetDirectoryName(filename);
> > > connection = new OdbcConnection(connectionString);
> > > connection.Open();
> > > command = new OdbcCommand("Select * FROM " +
> > > Path.GetFileName(filename), connection);
> > > reader = command.ExecuteReader();
> > >
> > >

"rob" wrote:

> In my first post I actually said that it is not in a correct format.
> Michael responded and said it IS a correct csv format. Since I am no
> expert in csv I did not want to claim otherwise but it was hard to
> believe. The reason is that then "this ""item"" is bad" should show up
> in Excel as 'this ""item"" is bad' which it does not, i.e. it shows up
> as 'this "item" is bad'.
>
> The space is an error on my side. I just wrote down an representative
> example and accidentaly put the space in there.
>
>
> shriop wrote:
> > I'd disagree based on
> > http://www.creativyst.com/Doc/Articles/CSV/CSV01.htm
> > and
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values
> >
> > Where are you getting that this is correct? It also looks like there's
> > a space between the comma and the next quote. This looks like typical
> > bad exports you encounter in the wild where people just drop all
> > contents between quotes.
> >
> > Bruce Dunwiddie
> > http://www.csvreader.com
> >
> > Michael D. Ober wrote:
> > > The first line "this "item" is bad", "this item is ok" is correct CSV
> > > format.  There is no field delimiter (comma) between the two quotes around
> > > "item".  Either your ODBC handler has a bug or you misconfiguring it.
> > > Please post your code that configures your ODBC reader.  Your other option
> > > is to write a CSV line parser yourself, which isn't too difficult to do.
> > >
> > > Mike Ober.
> > >
> > > "rob" <rmdiv2***@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> > > news:1146296378.467061.100080@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> > > > I am using Odbc to read cvs files. Unfortunately, some cvs files are
> > > > not formated correctly (out of my control). One particular problem is
> > > > that a quote within an item is not put in double quotes, i.e. the file
> > > > says
> > > >
> > > > "this "item" is bad", "this item is ok"
> > > >
> > > > rather then
> > > >
> > > > "this ""item"" is bad", "this item is ok"
> > > >
> > > > odbc now thinks 'this ' is the first item rather then 'this "item" is
> > > > bad'. Excel reads the file just fine, though. Is there some workaround,
> > > > short of fixing the file myself, to make the driver more error
> > > > tolerant? If it helps anything bellow is how I read the excel file.
> > > >
> > > > Thanks
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > connectionString = @"Driver={Microsoft Text Driver (*.txt;
> > > > *.csv)};DBQ=" + Path.GetDirectoryName(filename);
> > > > connection = new OdbcConnection(connectionString);
> > > > connection.Open();
> > > > command = new OdbcCommand("Select * FROM " +
> > > > Path.GetFileName(filename), connection);
> > > > reader = command.ExecuteReader();
> > > >
> > > >
>
>