CSV in Python adding an extra carriage return, on Windows

📝 Title: CSV in Python Adding an Extra Carriage Return on Windows: A Simple Solution!

👋 Hey tech enthusiasts! 👨‍💻 Welcome back to another exciting blog post! Today, we are diving into the puzzling world of CSV handling in Python on Windows. 📝💻

The Problem:

So, there you are, using Python's fantastic csv module to create a CSV file. You write down your rows, save the file, and when you open it, you notice something peculiar - an extra \r at the end of each row! 😱

import csv

with open('test.csv', 'w') as outfile:
    writer = csv.writer(outfile, delimiter=',', quoting=csv.QUOTE_MINIMAL)
    writer.writerow(['hi', 'dude'])
    writer.writerow(['hi2', 'dude2'])

The generated file, test.csv, looks like this:

hi,dude\r\r\nhi2,dude2\r\r\n

But, you expected it to look like this:

hi,dude\r\nhi2,dude2\r\n

What's causing this confusion? Is it a bug? Stick around as we unravel this mystery! 🔍

Understanding the issue:

To comprehend what's happening, we need to delve into the depths of Windows and Python. On Windows, the end-of-line character consists of two characters: \r\n (carriage return + line feed). However, Python's csv module is designed to work with the Unix-style newline character, \n, commonly used on non-Windows platforms.

So, the extra \r in each row is essentially Windows saying "Hey, I'm adding a carriage return before the newline character because that's how we roll here!" 🚂

The Solution:

Fear not, fellow developers! There are a couple of simple ways we can resolve this issue and obtain the desired output.

Solution 1: Using newline=''

By modifying the open function's newline parameter to an empty string '', we let Python handle line endings transparently. This way, Python handles the correct line endings for the underlying OS, eliminating the extra \r.

💡 Here's an updated snippet:

import csv

with open('test.csv', 'w', newline='') as outfile:
    writer = csv.writer(outfile, delimiter=',', quoting=csv.QUOTE_MINIMAL)
    writer.writerow(['hi', 'dude'])
    writer.writerow(['hi2', 'dude2'])

Running this code will now generate the expected output:

hi,dude\r\nhi2,dude\r\n

Boom! Problem solved! 🎉

Solution 2: Using io module

Another approach involves using the io module to create a universal newline writer. By wrapping the outfile using io.TextIOWrapper, we gain the advantage of transparently handling line endings according to the platform.

🚀 Let's take a look at the updated code:

import csv
import io

with open('test.csv', 'w') as outfile:
    writer = csv.writer(io.TextIOWrapper(outfile, newline=''), delimiter=',', quoting=csv.QUOTE_MINIMAL)
    writer.writerow(['hi', 'dude'])
    writer.writerow(['hi2', 'dude2'])

Executing this code results in the expected output:

hi,dude\r\nhi2,dude\r\n

Yippee! Another problem conquered! 🙌

A Call to Action:

Hooray! You made it to the end! 🎉 We hope this guide helped you understand and resolve the mysterious extra carriage return issue when working with CSV files in Python on Windows.

Do you have any other Python-related conundrums you'd like us to untangle? Let us know in the comments below! 👇🗯️

Happy Python coding! 💻✨