PHP Manual: Parse a CSV string into an array

Description

array str_getcsv(
    string $string,
    string $separator = ",",
    string $enclosure = "\"",
    string $escape = "\\"
)

Parses a string input for fields in CSV format and returns an array containing the fields read.

Note: The locale settings are taken into account by this function. For example, data encoded in certain one-byte encodings may be parsed incorrectly if LC_CTYPE is en_US.UTF-8.

Parameters

string: The string to parse.
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.

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.

Return Values

Returns an indexed array containing the fields read.

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.
8.4.0	Now throws a ValueError if `separator`, `enclosure`, or `escape` is invalid. This mimics the behavior of fgetcsv and fputcsv.
8.3.0	An empty string is returned instead of a string with a single null byte for the last field if it contains only an unterminated enclosure.
7.4.0	The `escape` parameter now interprets an empty string as signal to disable the proprietary escape mechanism. Formerly, an empty string was treated like the default parameter value.

Examples

Example #1 str_getcsv example

<?php

$string = 'PHP,Java,Python,Kotlin,Swift';
$data = str_getcsv($string);

var_dump($data);
?>

The above example will output:

array(5) {
  [0]=>
  string(3) "PHP"
  [1]=>
  string(4) "Java"
  [2]=>
  string(6) "Python"
  [3]=>
  string(6) "Kotlin"
  [4]=>
  string(5) "Swift"
}

Example #2 str_getcsv example with an empty string

Caution

On an empty string this function returns the value [null] instead of an empty array.

<?php

$string = '';
$data = str_getcsv($string);

var_dump($data);
?>