Bash Read Comma Separated CSV File on Linux / Unix

Bash Read Comma Separated CSV File

The syntax is as follows phrase a CSV file named input.csv:

while IFS=, read -r field1 field2
do
    echo "$field and $field2"
done < input.csv

How to parse a CSV file in Bash

Create a file called test.sh using a text editor such as vim command/nano command:
vim test.sh
Append the following code:

#!/bin/bash
# Purpose: Read Comma Separated CSV File
# Author: Vivek Gite under GPL v2.0+
# ------------------------------------------
INPUT=data.cvs
OLDIFS=$IFS
IFS=','
[ ! -f $INPUT ] && { echo "$INPUT file not found"; exit 99; }
while read flname dob ssn tel status
do
	echo "Name : $flname"
	echo "DOB : $dob"
	echo "SSN : $ssn"
	echo "Telephone : $tel"
	echo "Status : $status"
done < $INPUT
IFS=$OLDIFS

Run the test.sh file shell script as follows by setting up a execute permissions:
chmod +x test.sh
./test.sh
bash test.sh
sh test.sh

Parse a CSV file in Bash

CSV application support

The CSV file format is supported by spreadsheets and database management systems, including LibreOffice Calc, and Apache OpenOffice Calc.

Importing and Exporting CSV Files

How to open/import a text CSV file in calc

One can read comma separated CSV file using GUI app too.

1. Start calc
2. Choose File > Open.
3. Locate the CSV file that you want to open.
4. If the file has a *.csv extension, select the file.
5. Click Open.
6. The Text Import dialog opens.
7. Specify the options to divide the text in the file into columns.
8. Click OK.

Many Linux and Unix command line utility programs such as cut, paste, join, sort, uniq, awk, sed can split files on a comma delimiter, and can therefore process simple CSV files. For example:
awk -F',' '{ print $1 " " $2 }'

Conclusion

A CSV file is nothing but a file containing Comma Separated Value. You learned how to read and parse comma-separated (CSV) file under a Linux or Unix-like system using bash while loop, awk and read command.