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This package has been deprecated in favor of stream-csv-as-json.

stream-csv-enhanced

0.0.5 • Public • Published

stream-csv-enhanced

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Important: this package has been deprecated in favor of stream-csv-as-json. The new package features better performance and flexibility. Being 100% compatible with stream-json leverages existing data processing tools.

stream-csv-enhanced is a collection of node.js 0.10 stream components for creating custom standard-compliant CSV processors, which requires a minimal memory footprint. It can parse CSV files far exceeding available memory. Even individual data items are streamed piece-wise. Streaming SAX-inspired event-based API is included as well.

The CSV parser is conformant to RFC 4180: Common Format and MIME Type for Comma-Separated Values (CSV) Files. It uses a relaxed row separation (CR, LF, or CRLF are allowed), and a user-specified field separator (a comma by default). It implements all standard features including quoted values with CRLF and field separators inside.

Available components:

  • Streaming JSON Parser based on parser-toolkit.
  • Streamer, which converts tokens into SAX-like event stream.
  • Packer, which can assemble values from individual chunks. It is useful, when user knows that individual data items can fit the available memory. Overall, it makes the API simpler.
  • Filter, which is a flexible tool to select only important rows, or columns, using a function.
  • Emitter, which converts an event stream into events by bridging stream.Writable with EventEmitter.
  • Source, which is a helper that connects streams using pipe() and converts an event stream on the end of pipe into events, similar to Emitter.

Additionally a helper function is available in the main file, which creates a Source object with a default set of stream components.

This toolkit is distributed under New BSD license.

See the full documentation below.

Introduction

The simplest example (streaming from a file):

var createSource = require("stream-csv-enhanced");
 
var fs = require("fs");
 
var source = createSource();
 
var rows = 0;
 
source.on("startRow", function(){ ++rows; });
 
source.on("end", function(){
    console.log("Found ", rows, " rows.");
});
 
fs.createReadStream("sample.csv").pipe(source.input);
 

Installation

npm install stream-csv-enhanced

Documentation

Parser

This is the workhorse of the package. It is a transform stream, which consumes text, and produces a stream of tokens. It is always the first in a pipe chain being directly fed with a text from a file, a socket, the standard input, or any other text stream.

Its Writeable part operates in a buffer mode, while its Readable part operates in an objectMode.

var Parser = require("stream-csv-enhanced/Parser");
var parser = new Parser(options);
 
// Example of use:
var next = fs.createReadStream(fname).pipe(parser);

options can contain some technical parameters, and it rarely needs to be specified. You can find it thoroughly documented in node.js' Stream documentation. Additionally it recognizes following properties:

  • separator is a one-character string, which is used to separate values in a row. By default it is , (a comma).

The test file for Parser can be found in tests/test_parser.js. Actually all test files in tests/ use Parser.

If you want to catch parsing errors, attach an error listener directly to a parser component — unlike data errors do not travel through stream pipes.

Streamer

Streamer is a transform stream, which consumes a stream of tokens, and produces a stream of events. It is always the second in a pipe chain after the Parser. It knows CSV semantics and produces actionable events.

It operates in an objectMode.

var Streamer = require("stream-csv-enhanced/Streamer");
var streamer = new Streamer(options);
 
// Example of use:
var next = fs.createReadStream(fname).
                pipe(parser).pipe(streamer);

options can contain some technical parameters, and it rarely needs to be specified. You can find it thoroughly documented in node.js' Stream documentation.

Following is a list of all event objects produced by Streamer:

{name: "startRow", row: aRowNumber};
{name: "endRow", row: aRowNumber};
 
{name: "startValue", row: aRowNumber, col: aColumnNumber};
{name: "chunk", value: "actual string value",
    row: aRowNumber, col: aColumnNumber};
{name: "endValue", row: aRowNumber, col: aColumnNumber};
 

aRowNumber is a 1-based row number. aColumnNumber is a 1-based column number within a row.

The event stream is well-formed:

  • All startXXX are balanced with endXXX.
  • Between startValue and endValue can be zero or more chunk events. No other event are allowed.

The test file for Streamer can be found in tests/test_streamer.js.

Packer

Packer is a transform stream, which passes through a stream of events, assembles values from chunks, and adds new events with assembled values. It is a companion for Streamer, which frees users from implementing the assembling logic, when it is known that values will fit in the available memory.

It operates in an objectMode.

var Packer = require("stream-csv-enhanced/Packer");
var packer = new Packer(options);
 
// Example of use:
var next = fs.createReadStream(fname).
                pipe(parser).pipe(streamer).pipe(packer);

options can contain some technical parameters, and it rarely needs to be specified. You can find it thoroughly documented in node.js' Stream documentation.

Packer generates a new event, which passes an assembled value:

{name: "value", value: "assembled string value",
    row: aRowNumber, col: aColumnNumber}

value event always follows endValue.

AsObject

AsObject is a transform stream (operating in objectMode) that can be used after Packer to transform a row data into an object key-value bag.

This helper assumes that the very first row is a header row, which values are used as names of corresponding columns. The header values are not emitted.

var AsObject = require("stream-csv-enhanced/AsObject")
 
var asObject = new AsObject(options);
 
var next = fs.createReadStream(fname).
                pipe(parser).pipe(streamer).
                pipe(packer).pipe(asObject);

Emitted objects correspond to CSV rows and are of the form:

{"header1": "value1", "header2": "value2", "header3": "value3"}

AsArray

AsArray is a transform stream (operating in objectMode) that can be used after Packer to transform a row data into an array.

var AsArray = require("stream-csv-enhanced/AsArray")
 
var asArray = new AsArray(options);
 
var next = fs.createReadStream(fname).
                pipe(parser).pipe(streamer).
                pipe(packer).pipe(asArray);

Emitted objects correspond to CSV rows and are of the form:

["value1", "value2", "value3"]

Emitter

Emitter is a writeable stream, which consumes a stream of events, and emits them on itself.

It operates in an objectMode.

var Emitter = require("stream-csv-enhanced/Emitter");
var emitter = new Emitter(options);
 
// Example of use:
 
emitter.on("startRow", function(){
    console.log("row!");
});
emitter.on("value", function(value){
    console.log("value:", value);
});
 
fs.createReadStream(fname).
    pipe(parser).pipe(streamer).pipe(packer).pipe(emitter);

options can contain some technical parameters, and it rarely needs to be specified. You can find it thoroughly documented in node.js' Stream documentation.

startRow and endRow receive one paramer: row. startValue and endValue receive two parameters: row and col. chunk and value receive three parameters: value, row, and col.

Filter

Filter is an advance selector for rows and columns from a stream of events.

It operates in an objectMode.

var Filter = require("stream-csv-enhanced/Filter");
var filter = new Filter(options);
 
// Example of use:
var next = fs.createReadStream(fname).
                pipe(parser).pipe(streamer).pipe(filter);

options contains some important parameters, and should be specified. It can contain some technical properties thoroughly documented in node.js' Stream documentation. Additionally it recognizes following properties:

  • filter should be a function. By default it allows all events.
    • This function is called in a context of a Filter object with one parameter:
      • event is an event object described above. The function should return a Boolean value, with true indicating that we are interested in this object (row or value), and it should be passed through.

Filter produces a well-formed event stream.

The test file for Filter can be found in tests/test_filter.js.

Source

Source is a convenience object. It connects individual streams with pipes, and attaches itself to the end emitting all events on itself (just like Emitter).

var Source = require("stream-csv-enhanced/Source");
var source = new Source([parser, streamer, packer]);
 
// Example of use:
 
source.on("startRow", function(){
    console.log("row!");
});
source.on("value", function(value){
    console.log("value:", value);
});
 
fs.createReadStream(fname).pipe(source.input);

The constructor of Source accepts one mandatory parameter:

  • streams should be a non-empty array of pipeable streams. At the end the last stream should produce a stream of events.

Source uses the same event arguments as Emitter (see above). When a stream ends, Source produces an event end without parameters.

The test file for Source can be found in tests/test_source.js.

main: createSource()

The main file contains a helper function, which creates a commonly used configuration of streams, and returns a Source object.

var createSource = require("stream-json");
var source = createSource(options);
 
// Example of use:
 
source.on("startRow", function(){
    console.log("row!");
});
source.on("value", function(value){
    console.log("value:", value);
});
 
fs.createReadStream(fname).pipe(source.input);

options can contain some technical parameters, and it is completely optional. You can find it thoroughly documented in node.js' Stream documentation, and here. It is passed to Parser, Streamer, and Packer, so user can specify options documented for those objects.

Algorithm:

  1. createSource() creates instances of Parser and Streamer, and pipes them one after another.
  2. Then it checks if packValues is specified in options.
    1. If it is true, a Packer instance is created with options, and added to the pipe.
    2. If it is unspecified, a Packer is created and added.
    3. If it is specified, yet it is false, Packer is not added.

The most common use case is to call createSource() without parametrs. In this case instances of Parser, Streamer, and Packer are piped together. This scenario assumes that all values can be kept in memory, so user can use simplified event value.

The test files for Source are tests/test_main.js, and tests/test_chunk.js.

Advanced use

The whole library is organized as set of small components, which can be combined to produce the most effective pipeline. All components are based on node.js 0.10 streams, and events. It is easy to add your own components to solve your unique tasks.

The code of all components are compact and simple. Please take a look at their source code to see how things are implemented, so you can produce your own components in no time.

Obviously, if a bug is found, or a way to simplify existing components, or new generic components are created, which can be reused in a variety of projects, don't hesitate to open a ticket, and/or create a pull request.

Credits

The test file tests/sample.csv.gz is Master.csv from Lahman’s Baseball Database 2012. The file is copyrighted by Sean Lahman. It is used here under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. In order to test all features of the CSV parser, the file was minimally modified: row #1000 has a CRLF inserted in a value, row #1001 has a double quote inserted in a value, then the file was compressed by gzip.

Apendix A: tokens

Parser produces a stream of tokens cortesy of parser-toolkit. While normally user should use Streamer to convert them to a much simpler CSV-aware event stream, in some cases it can be advantageous to deal with raw tokens.

Each token is an object with following properties:

  • id is a string, which uniquely identifies a token.
  • value is a string, which corresponds to this token, and was actually matched.
  • line is a line number, where this token was found. All lines are counted from 1.
  • pos is a position number inside a line (in characters, so \t is one character). Position is counted from 1.

CSV grammar is defined in Grammar.js. It is taken almost verbatim from RFC 4180: Common Format and MIME Type for Comma-Separated Values (CSV) Files.

Following tokens are produced (listed by id):

  • sep: a user-specified field separator, or a part of a quoted value.
  • crlf: CR, LF, or CRLF sequence of characters used to separate rows, or inside of a quoted value.
  • text: a string of non-escaped characters, used inside a value.
  • ": a double quote, used to open and close a quoted value.
  • "": a doubled double quote, used to encode a single double quote in a quoted value.

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