PHP Manual: Format line as CSV and write to file pointer

Description

intfalse fputcsv(
    resource $stream,
    array $fields,
    string $separator = ",",
    string $enclosure = "\"",
    string $escape = "\\",
    string $eol = "\n"
)

fputcsv formats a line (passed as a fields array) as CSV and writes it (terminated by a eol) to the specified stream.

Parameters

stream: The file pointer must be valid, and must point to a file successfully opened by fopen or fsockopen (and not yet closed by fclose).
fields: An array of strings.
separator: The separator parameter sets the field separator. It must be a single byte character.
enclosure: The enclosure parameter sets the field enclosure character. It must be a single byte character.
escape: The escape parameter sets the escape character. It must be a single byte character or the empty string. The empty string ("") disables the proprietary escape mechanism.

Note: Usually an enclosure character is escaped inside a field by doubling it; however, the escape character can be used as an alternative. So for the default parameter values "" and \" have the same meaning. Other than allowing to escape the enclosure character the escape character has no special meaning; it isn't even meant to escape itself.

Warning
As of PHP 8.4.0, depending on the default value of escape is deprecated. It needs to be provided explicitly either positionally or by the use of named arguments.
eol: The optional eol parameter sets a custom End of Line sequence.

Warning

When escape is set to anything other than an empty string ("") it can result in CSV that is not compliant with » RFC 4180 or unable to survive a roundtrip through the PHP CSV functions. The default for escape is "\\" so it is recommended to set it to the empty string explicitly. The default value will change in a future version of PHP, no earlier than PHP 9.0.

Note:
If an enclosure character is contained in a field, it will be escaped by doubling it, unless it is immediately preceded by an escape.

Return Values

Returns the length of the written string or false on failure.

Errors/Exceptions

Throws a ValueError if separator or enclosure is not one byte long.

Throws a ValueError if escape is not one byte long or the empty string.

Changelog

Version	Description
8.4.0	Relying on the default value of `escape` is now deprecated.
8.1.0	The optional `eol` parameter has been added.
7.4.0	The `escape` parameter now also accepts an empty string to disable the proprietary escape mechanism.

Examples

Example #1 fputcsv example

<?php

$list = [
    ['aaa', 'bbb', 'ccc', 'dddd'],
    ['123', '456', '789'],
    ['"aaa"', '"bbb"']
];

$fp = fopen('file.csv', 'w');

foreach ($list as $fields) {
    fputcsv($fp, $fields, ',', '"', '');
}

fclose($fp);
?>

The above example will write the following to file.csv:

aaa,bbb,ccc,dddd
123,456,789
"""aaa""","""bbb"""

fputcsv