[Please note that this is a different question from the already answered How to replace a column using Python’s built-in .csv writer module?]
I need to do a find and replace (specific to one column of URLs) in a huge Excel .csv file. Since I'm in the beginning stages of trying to teach myself a scripting language, I figured I'd try to implement the solution in python.
I'm having trouble when I try to write back to a .csv file after making a change to the contents of an entry. I've read the official csv module documentation about how to use the writer, but there isn't an example that covers this case. Specifically, I am trying to get the read, replace, and write operations accomplished in one loop. However, one cannot use the same 'row' reference in both the for loop's argument and as the parameter for writer.writerow(). So, once I've made the change in the for loop, how should I write back to the file?
edit: I implemented the suggestions from S. Lott and Jimmy, still the same result
edit #2: I added the "rb" and "wb" to the open() functions, per S. Lott's suggestion
import csv
#filename = 'C:/Documents and Settings/username/My Documents/PALTemplateData.xls'
csvfile = open("PALTemplateData.csv","rb")
csvout = open("PALTemplateDataOUT.csv","wb")
reader = csv.reader(csvfile)
writer = csv.writer(csvout)
changed = 0;
for row in reader:
row[-1] = row[-1].replace('/?', '?')
writer.writerow(row) #this is the line that's causing issues
changed=changed+1
print('Total URLs changed:', changed)
edit: For your reference, this is the new full traceback from the interpreter:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Documents and Settings\g41092\My Documents\palScript.py", line 13, in
for row in reader:
_csv.Error: iterator should return strings, not bytes (did you open the file in text mode?)
解决方案
You cannot read and write the same file.
source = open("PALTemplateData.csv","rb")
reader = csv.reader(source , dialect)
target = open("AnotherFile.csv","wb")
writer = csv.writer(target , dialect)
The normal approach to ALL file manipulation is to create a modified COPY of the original file. Don't try to update files in place. It's just a bad plan.
Edit
In the lines
source = open("PALTemplateData.csv","rb")
target = open("AnotherFile.csv","wb")
The "rb" and "wb" are absolutely required. Every time you ignore those, you open the file for reading in the wrong format.
You must use "rb" to read a .CSV file. There is no choice with Python 2.x. With Python 3.x, you can omit this, but use "r" explicitly to make it clear.
You must use "wb" to write a .CSV file. There is no choice with Python 2.x. With Python 3.x, you must use "w".
Edit
It appears you are using Python3. You'll need to drop the "b" from "rb" and "wb".