Importing tab delimited file problem

[smagdy]

Hello,

I have tab delimited file that is produced from a specific software, and i should work on it without re-saving it! I want to import it and save it to DB.. my problem is just in reading it!

Everything works fine when I open it by excel and re-save it as tab delimited (But I should not do so).

The problem in the original file is that I can't detect its new line and neither can PHP functions file() nor fgetcsv().

But if I opened it by excel, it opens correctly, each field on its own and each line on its own, so there must be newline sign there but I cant find it at all..

I am trying to echo the position of any newline value, i tried:

$handle = fopen($file, "r");
$data_rows = fgetcsv($handle, 0, "\t");
echo strpos($data_rows[0],"\n");exit;

\n
\r\n
<br>
<br />

So what could be the newline value?

[jatar_k]

try opening the file in a text editor and take a look at what is actually in it

[smagdy]

i did and there is small square infront of the start of every newline.

And when i open it with wordpad, it displays correctly, ever line on its own..

So there must be a newline character but what could it be?

[jatar_k]

where is this file generated? does that give any clues to what it might be?

aside from locating the newline, have you tried just parsing the file?

does it act like it knows there are lines or does it just give you one big line?

[smagdy]

It is generated from a software, i have no much info about it!

Of course i parsed the file using file() and fgetcsv() but both read all the content in one array cell!

So how can excel read it properly but not PHP functions!

[smagdy]

For example this code displays all file content!

$data_rows = file($file);
$data_fields = explode("\n",$data_rows[0]);
echo $data_fields[0];exit;

Any ideas on what the newline sign could be?

[smagdy]

Another tip is that the file created on MAC OS...

I also used:
ini_set('auto_detect_line_endings', true);

But no effect!

[jatar_k]

have you tried exploding on \r

as opposed to explode did you try using functions that grab line by line from a file to see if they may be able to do it

you could try

file_get_contents
fgets
fgetcsv

or even just fread but I doubt that will work

the other thing is that it may not be a newline or carriage return at all, it could be some other char all together that excel seems to know

you could also look at the software that is producing it and see if there are settings for file type.

[smagdy]

Thanks but nothing from these functions work as they should, just with that specific file though as i said b4, its read correctly by Excel..

[jatar_k]

you could try copying the char from a text editor, I have done that in the past

did you check the original software as I suggested?

[smagdy]

I have no access to that software, its a friend who I work with online that provide me with that file and he should check it more closely..

I tried now to copy the small square char that appears in the text editor and paste it in dreamweaver.. so it pasted a new line as if i hit enter!

So we agree that there is newline sign out there but not clear what is it!

[jatar_k]

did you try splitting on "\r"?

if you edit the script in a text editor you could try splitting on the weird char too

[The Contractor]

Try using Open Office Calc to open and save. For some reason Excel screws up delimited files quite often with extra characters etc (same with csv files).

[smagdy]

did you try splitting on "\r"?
- Yes, didn't work!

if you edit the script in a text editor you could try splitting on the weird char too
- I did so and when I transfered the file by FTP, it lost the weird character and gave error (Empty delimiter)

[jatar_k]

since it it tab delim and has a set number of cols you could split them that way

loop it
add value to array
when you get to the number of cols start the next element

take a look in the comments on this page
[php.net...]

search the page for 'newline', might give some insight

[smagdy]

Sorry but can you clear this part more?

loop it
add value to array
when you get to the number of cols start the next element

[jatar_k]

there are a set number of columns in the file, each needs to go to an array element, each row needs to be a new row in the array

for each value between tabs you could assign it to a new element

though I guess you would still need to figure out the strange char as there would be no tab there

no clue, you need to find a way to identify that char, the link above may help

[smagdy]

Ok thanks, Also I will try to find that weird character and will inform u if I found anything!

Thanks again for your time!