Using the Standard Library

In this example, we will develop a simple parser for Comma Separated Value (CSV) files. The rules we will follow are as follows:

  • Each record will occupy one line, and newline indicates a new record
  • Fields in the record are separated by commas, unless they are within a quoted string
  • Strings can be quoted using single (') or double quotes ("), in which case they can contain commas as part of the string
  • Quotes immediately repeated ('' or "") is a literal, and a part of the string rather than a delimiter of a string
  • If a string is quoted, then spaces outside of the string are ignored

This is a very basic implementation, and omits the usual requirement that quoted strings can contain newlines.

In this example, much ...

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