Write data to a CSV file

· 211 words · 1 minute read
#array #csv #encode #fatal #file #flush #log #newwriter #os #string #writer

CSV is a highly accepted data language, commonly used by Excel and spreadsheets, and as such is very useful if your script is producing data and you want it in a common format.

In the example, we’re forming a data variable, just to illustrate the example, by creating a multi-dimensional array of strings. We are then having to create a file (result.csv) for the csv writer to work with. Finally, we are iterating through the data writing each line to the file.

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package main

import (
    "os"
    "log"
    "encoding/csv"
)

var data = [][]string{{"Line1", "Hello Readers of"}, {"Line2", "golangcode.com"}}

func main() {
    file, err := os.Create("result.csv")
    checkError("Cannot create file", err)
    defer file.Close()

    writer := csv.NewWriter(file)
    defer writer.Flush()

    for _, value := range data {
        err := writer.Write(value)
        checkError("Cannot write to file", err)
    }
}

func checkError(message string, err error) {
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(message, err)
    }
}

The result:

Line1,Hello Readers of
Line2,golangcode.com

This process is possible through two packages, os and encoding/csv - one which handles the file interactions the other which converts the data structure into csv format.

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Author:  Edd Turtle

Edd is the Lead Developer at Hoowla, a prop-tech startup, where he spends much of his time working on production-ready Go and PHP code. He loves coding, but also enjoys cycling and camping in his spare time.

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