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classification
Title: csv.DictReader inconsistency
Type: behavior Stage:
Components: Library (Lib) Versions: Python 3.0, Python 2.6
process
Status: closed Resolution: accepted
Dependencies: Superseder:
Assigned To: skip.montanaro Nosy List: barry, gvanrossum, mishok13, ncoghlan, rhettinger, skip.montanaro
Priority: normal Keywords: patch

Created on 2008-07-24 15:30 by mishok13, last changed 2022-04-11 14:56 by admin. This issue is now closed.

Files
File name Uploaded Description Edit
csv.diff skip.montanaro, 2008-08-01 00:59
Messages (21)
msg70207 - (view) Author: Andrii V. Mishkovskyi (mishok13) Date: 2008-07-24 15:30
I had to use csv module recently and ran into a "problem" with
DictReader. I had to get headers of CSV file and only after that iterate
throgh each row. But AFAIU there is no way to do it, other then
subclassing. So, basically, right now we have this:

Python 3.0b2+ (unknown, Jul 24 2008, 12:15:52)
[GCC 4.2.3 (Ubuntu 4.2.3-2ubuntu7)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import csv
>>> r = csv.DictReader(open('test.csv'))
>>> r.fieldnames
>>> next(r)
{'baz': '13', 'foo': '42', 'bar': '27'}
>>> r.fieldnames
['foo', 'bar', 'baz']

I think it would be much more useful, if DictReader got 'fieldnames' on
calling __init__ method, so this would look like this:
>>> r = csv.DictReader(open('test.csv'))
>>> r.fieldnames
['foo', 'bar', 'baz']

The easy way to do this is to subclass csv.DictReader.
The hard way to do this is to apply the patches I'm attaching. :)
These patches also remove redundant check for self.fieldnames being None
for each next()/__next__() call
msg70213 - (view) Author: Raymond Hettinger (rhettinger) * (Python committer) Date: 2008-07-24 16:18
I think this is the wrong approach.  It would be better to have a 
separate getheader() method.  Having __init__ do the deed is at odds 
with other uses of __init__ that only do setup but don't start reading.
msg70214 - (view) Author: Andrii V. Mishkovskyi (mishok13) Date: 2008-07-24 16:29
And how this method should look?
Something like this, I suppose:
def getheader(self):
    if self.fieldnames is None:
        try:
            self.fieldnames = self.reader.next()
        except StopIteration:
            pass
     return self.fieldnames

Well, adding new API after beta2 is a "no-no" as I understand, so this
getheader() method can be added only in 2.7/3.1 releases. Should I post
updated patches or just live with it?
msg70238 - (view) Author: Skip Montanaro (skip.montanaro) * (Python triager) Date: 2008-07-25 02:41
That would be a fairly easy change to the DictReader class (see
the attached patch) but probably can't be applied at this point
in the 2.6 release cycle even though all csv module tests pass
with it.
msg70310 - (view) Author: Skip Montanaro (skip.montanaro) * (Python triager) Date: 2008-07-27 03:23
I should also point out that I've generally used this technique to 
populate the fieldnames attribute from the file:

    f = open("somefile.csv", "rb")
    rdr = csv.DictReader(f, fieldnames=csv.reader(f).next())

So it is fairly trivial to set the fieldnames attribute before actually
reading any data rows.
msg70311 - (view) Author: Nick Coghlan (ncoghlan) * (Python committer) Date: 2008-07-27 04:15
Like Raymond, I have issues with the idea of implicitly reading the
headers in __init__, but would be fine with the idea of a separate
method in 2.7/3.1.

As far as working around the absence of such a method goes, I personally
use itertools.chain if I happen to need the headers before I start
iterating:

r = csv.DictReader(open('test.csv'))
first = next(r)
# Do something with r.fieldnames
for row in chain(first, r):
    # Do something with each row
msg70341 - (view) Author: Skip Montanaro (skip.montanaro) * (Python triager) Date: 2008-07-28 10:59
The consensus seems to be that __init__ shouldn't "magically" read the
header row, even though by not specifying a fieldnames arg that's
exactly what you're telling the DictReader where to find the column
headers.  Given that case, my argument is that we not make any changes
(no getheaders method, etc) since there are at least a couple different
ways mentioned already to do what you want.
msg70342 - (view) Author: Andrii V. Mishkovskyi (mishok13) Date: 2008-07-28 11:03
I'm ok with that. :)
Looks like you can close this one as "won't fix".
msg70343 - (view) Author: Skip Montanaro (skip.montanaro) * (Python triager) Date: 2008-07-28 11:17
Done...
msg70413 - (view) Author: Guido van Rossum (gvanrossum) * (Python committer) Date: 2008-07-30 00:17
I know this has been closed, but perhaps the fieldnames attribute could
be made into a property that reads the first line of the file if it
hasn't been read yet?
msg70434 - (view) Author: Skip Montanaro (skip.montanaro) * (Python triager) Date: 2008-07-30 17:41
Guido> I know this has been closed, but perhaps the fieldnames attribute
    Guido> could be made into a property that reads the first line of the
    Guido> file if it hasn't been read yet?

It's a nice thought.  I tried the straightforward implementation in my
sandbox and one of the more obscure tests failed.  I have yet to look into
the cause.

Skip
msg70442 - (view) Author: Nick Coghlan (ncoghlan) * (Python committer) Date: 2008-07-30 22:58
Re-opened for consideration of GvR's suggestion.
msg70501 - (view) Author: Nick Coghlan (ncoghlan) * (Python committer) Date: 2008-07-31 13:23
I personally like the idea of making fieldnames a property - while
having merely reading an attribute cause disk I/O is slightly
questionable, it seems like a better option than returning a misleading
value for that property and also a better option than reading the first
line of the file in __init__.

Hopefully Skip can track down that obscure failure and this change can
be made at some point in the future.
msg70521 - (view) Author: Andrii V. Mishkovskyi (mishok13) Date: 2008-07-31 15:24
I like the idea of fieldnames attribute being a property, so i've
uploaded patches that implement them as such.
Both patches ran through make test without problems.
msg70532 - (view) Author: Skip Montanaro (skip.montanaro) * (Python triager) Date: 2008-07-31 22:56
Nick,

Working with Andrii's patch I'm trying to add a couple test cases to 
make sure the methods you and I both demonstrated still work.  Mine is 
no problem, but I must be doing something wrong trying to use/adapt your 
example.  I freely admit I am not an itertools user, but I can't get 
your example to work as written:

>>> r = csv.DictReader(open("foo.csv", "rb"))
>>> r.fieldnames
['f1', 'f2', 'f3']
>>> r.next()
{'f1': '1', 'f2': '2', 'f3': 'abc'}
>>> r = csv.DictReader(open("foo.csv", "rb"))
>>> first = next(r)
>>> first
{'f1': '1', 'f2': '2', 'f3': 'abc'}
>>> import itertools
>>> for x in itertools.chain(first, r):
...   print x
... 
f1
f2
f3

If I place first in a list it works:

>>> r = csv.DictReader(open("foo.csv", "rb"))
>>> first = next(r)
>>> for x in itertools.chain([first], r):
...   print x
... 
{'f1': '1', 'f2': '2', 'f3': 'abc'}

That makes intuitive sense to me.  Is that what you intended?

S
msg70537 - (view) Author: Skip Montanaro (skip.montanaro) * (Python triager) Date: 2008-08-01 00:59
I added a comment to Andrii's patch and added simple test cases
which check to make sure the way Nick and I currently use the
DictReader class (or at least envision using it) still works.
msg70538 - (view) Author: Skip Montanaro (skip.montanaro) * (Python triager) Date: 2008-08-01 01:06
Andrii, If my view of the Python 3.0 development process is correct and 
this change makes it into the 2.6 code, one of the 3.0 developers will 
merge to the py3k branch.
msg70544 - (view) Author: Andrii V. Mishkovskyi (mishok13) Date: 2008-08-01 08:21
Oh, so this is how the process looks like...
/me removes patches
I've uploaded both py3k and trunk patches just because I'm fixing things
the other way round -- first I write a patch for 3.0 and only after that
I backport it to 2.6. Stupid me. :)
msg70547 - (view) Author: Nick Coghlan (ncoghlan) * (Python committer) Date: 2008-08-01 10:10
Skip's patch looks good to me (as Skip discovered, I left out the
necessary step of putting the first row back into an iterable before
invoking chain in my example code)
msg70917 - (view) Author: Barry A. Warsaw (barry) * (Python committer) Date: 2008-08-08 22:06
Making an existing attribute a property is a nice, API-neutral way to
handle this.  Let's call the inconsistency a bug and this a bug fix
<wink> so that it's fine to add to 2.6 and 3.0 at this point.
msg70921 - (view) Author: Skip Montanaro (skip.montanaro) * (Python triager) Date: 2008-08-08 22:53
Committed as revision 65605.
History
Date User Action Args
2022-04-11 14:56:36adminsetgithub: 47686
2008-08-08 22:53:44skip.montanarosetstatus: open -> closed
assignee: skip.montanaro
messages: + msg70921
2008-08-08 22:06:29barrysetnosy: + barry
resolution: accepted
messages: + msg70917
2008-08-01 10:10:31ncoghlansetmessages: + msg70547
2008-08-01 08:21:16mishok13setfiles: - issue3436.trunk.csv.py.diff
2008-08-01 08:21:12mishok13setfiles: - issue3436.py3k.csv.py.diff
2008-08-01 08:21:07mishok13setmessages: + msg70544
2008-08-01 01:06:05skip.montanarosetmessages: + msg70538
2008-08-01 01:00:04skip.montanarosetfiles: - csv.diff
2008-08-01 00:59:54skip.montanarosetfiles: + csv.diff
messages: + msg70537
2008-07-31 22:56:36skip.montanarosetmessages: + msg70532
2008-07-31 15:24:55mishok13setmessages: + msg70521
2008-07-31 15:14:16mishok13setfiles: + issue3436.trunk.csv.py.diff
2008-07-31 15:13:53mishok13setfiles: + issue3436.py3k.csv.py.diff
2008-07-31 13:23:21ncoghlansetmessages: + msg70501
2008-07-30 22:58:35ncoghlansetstatus: closed -> open
resolution: wont fix -> (no value)
messages: + msg70442
2008-07-30 17:41:01skip.montanarosetmessages: + msg70434
2008-07-30 13:48:30mishok13setfiles: - trunk.csv.py.diff
2008-07-30 13:48:28mishok13setfiles: - py3k.csv.py.diff
2008-07-30 00:17:28gvanrossumsetnosy: + gvanrossum
messages: + msg70413
2008-07-28 11:17:41skip.montanarosetstatus: open -> closed
resolution: wont fix
messages: + msg70343
2008-07-28 11:03:06mishok13setmessages: + msg70342
2008-07-28 10:59:32skip.montanarosetmessages: + msg70341
2008-07-27 04:15:47ncoghlansetnosy: + ncoghlan
messages: + msg70311
2008-07-27 03:23:42skip.montanarosetmessages: + msg70310
2008-07-25 02:41:17skip.montanarosetfiles: + csv.diff
nosy: + skip.montanaro
messages: + msg70238
2008-07-24 16:29:59mishok13setmessages: + msg70214
2008-07-24 16:18:49rhettingersetnosy: + rhettinger
messages: + msg70213
2008-07-24 15:33:38mishok13settype: behavior
components: + Library (Lib)
2008-07-24 15:33:22mishok13setfiles: + trunk.csv.py.diff
2008-07-24 15:32:53mishok13setfiles: - trunk.csv.py.diff
2008-07-24 15:31:51mishok13setfiles: + trunk.csv.py.diff
2008-07-24 15:30:21mishok13create