Thread: Beginner C programmer - My CSV reader

  1. #1
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    Beginner C programmer - My CSV reader

    Hi,

    Ive been trying to learn C programming. The project ive set myself is to make a CSV text file reader and parser. The aim of the program is to read a CSV file, then display it, breaking it down into its seperate values. I then want to be able to call individual pieces of information later on.

    My current code looks like this:
    Code:
    #include <stdio.h>
    
    int main(int argc, char ** argv){
      int c;
      FILE * fp;
    
      if(argc < 2){
        printf("Usage:\n\t%s filename\n",argv[0]);
        return -1;
      }
    
      if((fp = fopen(argv[1],"rb")) == NULL){
        printf("can't open %s\n",argv[1]);
        return -2;
      }
    
      while((c = fgetc(fp)) != EOF){
    #define MAX_LINE_LEN   1024*512  /* 1/2 mega byte, should be more than sufficient */
    .....
    
        char line[MAX_LINE_LEN];
       int len=0;
       int cnt_of_fields=0;
       char *p;
               switch(c)
               {
               case '"':
               case '\'':
                        /* parse a quoted string, ignore it for now */
                      break; 
               case ',':
                      ++cnt_of_fields; /* a comma signal end of previous field and begining of next fields */
                      line[len++]='\0';
                      if(len==MAX_LINE_LEN){
                               fprintf(stderr, "Line too long\n");
                               exit(-1);
                      }             
                     break;
               case '\n':
                    ++cnt_of_fields; /* a EOL is end of record, and at the same time end of field */
                      line[len++]='\0';
                      
                     /* make a copy of the line in the heap, note strdup or strcpy won't work in our case */
                    p = (char *)malloc(len); 
                    memcpy(p, line, len); /* now all the fields in the record are stored in p[ ] */ 
                    add_a_record( p );
                    break;
               default:
                    line[len++] = c;
                      if(len==MAX_LINE_LEN){
                               fprintf(stderr, "Line too long\n");
                               exit(-1);
                      }             
               }
       }
        printf( "%s", line );
      }
    
      fclose(fp);
      return 0;
    }
    The errors I get are attached in the image below. This is my first program, so I would really appreciate a little help working out why these errors are occuring, and also a little insight into if my code is the correct way of going about reading a csv file.

    Regards,

    James

  2. #2
    Registered User
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    Austria
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    Most of the errors are because of missing #includes.
    You have to include
    Code:
    #include <stdlib.h>
    #include <string.h>
    remove that line
    Code:
    .....
    and there is a closing '}' too many. Proper indentation helps to find such errors.
    Kurt

  3. #3
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    93
    Hi,

    Thank you very much for your help. I did the steps you told me, I deleted the ...., I added the headers and finally I deleted one of the } at the end, leaving me with two instead of three. This then gave me two remaining errors shown in the attached picture. The first is a warning, so I guess that wouldnt stop the program working. It says the add_a_record identifier is not found. What exactly does it mean by this, am i meant to define this somehow?

  4. #4
    spurious conceit MK27's Avatar
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    you don't have a function "add_a_record".

    The warning about fopen is very strange since fopen_s is non-standard, so your compiler is apparently telling you that it is more important than C.

    If you are reading a text file, you should use "r" and not "rb" in the fopen().
    C programming resources:
    GNU C Function and Macro Index -- glibc reference manual
    The C Book -- nice online learner guide
    Current ISO draft standard
    CCAN -- new CPAN like open source library repository
    3 (different) GNU debugger tutorials: #1 -- #2 -- #3
    cpwiki -- our wiki on sourceforge

  5. #5
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    I got help on the forums with that bit of code so i dont really understand how I need to define add_a_record. What should the function add_a_record be doing?

  6. #6
    Hurry Slowly vart's Avatar
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    Rishon LeZion, Israel
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    Quote Originally Posted by spadez View Post
    I got help on the forums with that bit of code so i dont really understand how I need to define add_a_record. What should the function add_a_record be doing?
    why do you call this function if you do not even know what it should do?
    All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection,
    except for the problem of too many layers of indirection.
    – David J. Wheeler

  7. #7
    Registered User
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    That is a piece of code I got help with, im currently trying to intergrate it and understand why it works.

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