# CSV parser for Node.js and the web

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The [`csv-parse` package](https://csv.js.org/parse/) is a parser converting CSV text input into arrays or objects. It is part of the [CSV project](https://csv.js.org/).

It implements the Node.js [`stream.Transform` API](http://nodejs.org/api/stream.html#stream_class_stream_transform). It also provides a simple callback-based API for convenience. It is both extremely easy to use and powerful. It was first released in 2010 and is used against big data sets by a large community.

## Documentation

- [Project homepage](https://csv.js.org/parse/)
- [API](https://csv.js.org/parse/api/)
- [Options](https://csv.js.org/parse/options/)
- [Info properties](https://csv.js.org/parse/info/)
- [Common errors](https://csv.js.org/parse/errors/)
- [Examples](https://csv.js.org/project/examples/)

## Main features

- Flexible with lot of [options](https://csv.js.org/parse/options/)
- Multiple [distributions](https://csv.js.org/parse/distributions/): Node.js, Web, ECMAScript modules and CommonJS
- Follow the Node.js streaming API
- Simplicity with the optional callback API
- Support delimiters, quotes, escape characters and comments
- Line breaks discovery
- Support big datasets
- Complete test coverage and lot of samples for inspiration
- No external dependencies
- Work nicely with the [csv-generate](https://csv.js.org/generate/), [stream-transform](https://csv.js.org/transform/) and [csv-stringify](https://csv.js.org/stringify/) packages
- MIT License

## Usage

Run `npm install csv` to install the full CSV module or run `npm install csv-parse` if you are only interested by the CSV parser.

Use the callback and sync APIs for simplicity or the stream based API for scalability.

## Example

The [API](https://csv.js.org/parse/api/) is available in multiple flavors. This example illustrates the stream API.

```js
import assert from "assert";
import { parse } from "csv-parse";

const records = [];
// Initialize the parser
const parser = parse({
  delimiter: ":",
});
// Use the readable stream api to consume records
parser.on("readable", function () {
  let record;
  while ((record = parser.read()) !== null) {
    records.push(record);
  }
});
// Catch any error
parser.on("error", function (err) {
  console.error(err.message);
});
// Test that the parsed records matched the expected records
parser.on("end", function () {
  assert.deepStrictEqual(records, [
    ["root", "x", "0", "0", "root", "/root", "/bin/bash"],
    ["someone", "x", "1022", "1022", "", "/home/someone", "/bin/bash"],
  ]);
});
// Write data to the stream
parser.write("root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash\n");
parser.write("someone:x:1022:1022::/home/someone:/bin/bash\n");
// Close the readable stream
parser.end();
```

## Contributors

The project is sponsored by [Adaltas](https://www.adaltas.com), an Big Data consulting firm based in Paris, France.

- David Worms: <https://github.com/wdavidw>