Forums » CSV data with " in the text and around each field

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  1. CAMc Posted 7 months ago

    Hello All,
    I am preparing a stylesheet to produce a CSV file for Omeka import. I would like to know if I can have quote marks " in the data.

    The data has commas and I am placing quotes around the information from each field. Will a nested set of quotes (or individual quote) in that data mess-up the import? Quotes in my record descriptions seem to create extra rows when I import the test CSV file into Excel, to check it for problems.

    If Omeka can handle this issue, I will leave my stylesheet as is, if not, I will try to replace quotes with apostrophes universally before converting the data.

    I myself cannot run a test by actually uploading to Omeka without messing up the live site and bothering the server administrator, so I was wondering if anyone has experience with this issue.

    Thanks very much,
    CAMc

  2. patrickmj (Omeka Dev Team) Posted 7 months ago

    I just did a quick test, and it looked like it didn't behave the way you need it to.

    As far as testing on your installation, I think that the most recent version of the CSVImport plugin will let you test without disrupting the live site or bothering the server admin. It allows upload, and as long as you do not check the "Make Items public" box, the items won't be visible to the public. You can also undo the imports to remove traces of your test.

  3. John Flatness (Omeka Dev Team) Posted 7 months ago

    If your data contains quote marks and you're enclosing each field within quotes, you can escape "interior" quotes by doubling them, like this: "". So, a field that should contain the following text:

    CSV is a "great" format

    would end up in a properly-formatted CSV file (with enclosing quotes) as:

    "CSV is a ""great"" format"

  4. CAMc Posted 7 months ago

    Thank you both for your help!

    I should be able to replace all the interior quotes with two quotes (or maybe an apostrophe). I think I will just have to run the records through two stylesheets, or use a find and replace.

    Patrickmj, thank you very much for running a test. I have used the public/not public option to test individual record uploads, but did not realize I could use it in bulk for the CSV import, thanks.

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