A solution to parsing CSV records that contain embedded commas in quotes

Question

I've seen so many people looking to use StringTokenizer or Split to parse a quoted CSV file, only to fail to handle embedded ','s in quoted fields. So i'm throwing in my 2-cents with my solution that anyone can use freely.
It's small, comes with a little test program and utilizes the String.split function.
Enjoy,
Todd Blackley
[email protected]
www.pawsource.org
Copyright (c) 2005 Todd Blackley
The above copyright notice shall be included in all copies or substantial
portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR
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CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
package com.pawsource.model;
import java.util.*;
public class Csv
public     Csv()
public     void     test1()
     LinkedList     list     = new LinkedList();
     for (int i=0;i<1000000;i++)
     list.add(new String(Integer.toString(i)));
     for (Iterator iter = list.iterator(); iter.hasNext();)
     String     s = (String)iter.next();
     System.out.println(s);
public     String     toCSV(ArrayList aList)
     StringBuffer     buffer     = new StringBuffer();
     for (int i=0;i<aList.size();i++)
     String     text           = (String)aList.get(i);
     boolean     needQuotes     = text.indexOf(",")==-1?false:true;
     if (needQuotes)     buffer.append("\"");
     buffer.append(text);
     if (needQuotes)     buffer.append("\"");
     if (i<aList.size()-1)
          buffer.append(",");
     return buffer.toString();
public     ArrayList     parseCSV(String aBuffer)
     String[]     orig     = aBuffer.split(",");
     ArrayList     tokens     = new ArrayList();
     int     index     = 0;
     while (index<orig.length)
     if (orig[index].startsWith("\""))
          int          origIndex     = index;
          tokens.add(orig[index].substring(1,orig[index].length()));
          while (orig[index].endsWith("\"")==false && ++index<orig.length)
          tokens.set(origIndex,tokens.get(origIndex)+ "," + orig[index]);
          if (index<orig.length)
          String     temp = (String)tokens.get(origIndex);
          tokens.set(origIndex,temp.substring(0,temp.length()-1));
     else
          tokens.add(orig[index]);
     index++;
     return tokens;
public static void main(String[] args)
     Csv     test = new Csv();
     System.out.println("Start...");
     String     buffer     = "1,2,,4,\"5,6,7,8\",9,10";
     ArrayList     tokens = test.parseCSV(buffer);
     for (int i=0;i<tokens.size();i++)
     System.out.println("Token :" + tokens.get(i));
     System.out.println("CVS :" + test.toCSV(tokens));
     System.out.println("Finish...");
}

Answer 1

My $0.2 worth for cleaning up the code (nothing to do with functionality and not trying to be critical):
list.add(new String(Integer.toString(i)));
shoud be
list.add(Integer.toString(i));
no reason to create an extra String since that is what toString() returns
boolean needQuotes = text.indexOf(",")==-1?false:true;
should be
boolean needQuotes = text.indexOf(",")==-1;
and
while (orig[index].endsWith("\"")==false && ++index><orig.length)
should be
while (orig[index].endsWith("\"") && ++index><orig.length)
the rest is redundant
Also, what is "><"?
Both toCSV() and parseCSV should be static because they contain no state.