How to read a header from a CSV file using python

Question

i tried the following script as per ur suggestion and i get an error import csv

def main():
    col_name = "\\xyz-abc\Procz(abcd)\Digital"
    with open('C:\\read.csv', 'rb') as inf:
        reader = csv.reader(inf)
        col_index = next(reader).index(col_name)
        highest = max(rec[col_index] for rec in reader)
        print "test"
main()

I get an error ValueError: '\\\\xyz-abc\Procz(abcd)\Digital' is not in list please help me.. I think the script is not reading the column header.

It's very possible that this code is working fine, but the string you provided for col_name isn't actually in the header. We need to see the first few lines of your csv file to determine if this is the case. I would also suggest trying to print next(reader) to see what it's giving you. — Wilduck
– Wilduck, Commented May 18, 2011 at 7:25
actually i need the script to read from the column header \\xyz-abc\Procz(abcd)\Digital and this is just an example. should I use next(reader) instead of col_name ???? — Siddharth Ravindran
– Siddharth Ravindran, Commented May 18, 2011 at 7:37

Rob Cowie · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-18 13:52:47Z

2

Give this a go. Prevent the back-slashes being interpreted as escape characters by using a raw string

col_name = r"\\xyz-abc\Procz(abcd)\Digital"

edited May 18, 2011 at 13:52

answered May 18, 2011 at 8:00

Rob Cowie

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18 Comments

Siddharth Ravindran Over a year ago

Thats how it is given in the CSV. The script should identify that column and get the max value from that column.

Rob Cowie Over a year ago

@Siddharth I understand. Try your script with the lower-case r in front of the col_name string. This makes it a raw string.

Rob Cowie Over a year ago

@Siddarth. ok. It would definitely help to see the first few lines of your csv file. Could you post them? Perhaps use gist.github.com

Siddharth Ravindran Over a year ago

I think i figured out the issue... my header name starts with \\DHL-ABC001\ABC\MBB written. Since the header name starts with \\DHL the script is not able to read the header. Is there any solution for this ???

Rob Cowie Over a year ago

@Siddarth: I'm not sure what you mean. \\DHL should not stop your script from running. It's just a string. I can run your code on a csv file with header row \\DHL-ABC001\ABC\MBB,\\xyz-abc\Procz(abcd)\Digital,col3 and it works fine. Please post the first few lines of your csv

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