CSV Parser with Batching

This is a very fast CSV parser with batching for Node.js. It has no dependencies and is returns a promise and functions support promises and async functions so no need to learn streams!

All it returns is a single function that takes a readable Node.js stream like a file stream and options and then resolves once parsed or allows you to batch records and call a function for each batch. It will wait for the batch function to return resolved before moving on so you will not wast memory loading the whole CSV in-memory.

If you don't turn on batching then it works like most other csv parsers and does it all in memory.

It also supports reducing on the records as they are processed so you could do aggregations instead of just returning the records. Reducing is also supported for each batch if you wanted.

Install

npm install csv-batch

Usage

Batching

const csvBatch = require('csv-batch');

csvBatch(fileStream, {
  batch: true,
  batchSize: 10000,
  batchExecution: batch => addToDatabase(batch)
}).then(results => {
  console.log(`Processed ${results.totalRecords});
});

In-Memory Results

const csvBatch = require('csv-batch');

csvBatch(fileStream).then(results => {
  console.log(`Processed ${results.totalRecords});
  console.log(`CSV as JSON ${JSON.stringify(results.data, null, 2)});
});

In-Memory but reduce results

const csvBatch = require('csv-batch');

csvBatch(fileStream, {
  getInitialValue: () => ({}),
  reducer: (current, record) => {
    if (!current[record.month]) {
      current[record.month].total = 0;
    }
    current[record.month].total = current[record.month].total + record.total;
    return current;
  }
}).then(results => {
  console.log(`Processed ${results.totalRecords});
  console.log(`Final reduced value ${JSON.stringify(results.data, null, 2)});
});

Options

• header: {boolean} = true: When set to true will take the first column as a header and use them for the object proprty names for each record. If set to false and columns option isn't set each record will just be an array.

• columns: {Array.<String>} = []: When set to an array of column names will use these columns when parsing the file and creating record objects. If the first line of the file matches these it will skip it but the headers are not required to be there.

• delimiter: {string} = ',': This is the character you use to delimit a new column in the csv. This will always need to be one character only!

• quote: {string} = '"': This is the character you use to go in and out of quote mode where new lines and delimiter is ignored. If in quote mode to display this character you need to repeat it twice. This will always need to be one character only!

• detail: {boolean} = false: When set to true each record isn't the parsed data but a object with the line number it ended on, the raw string for the record, and a data property with the object or array of the record.

  • Example:

  {
    line: 2,
    raw: '1,2,3',
    data: {
      a: '1',
      b: '2',
      c: '3'
    }
  }

• nullOnEmpty: {boolean} = false: When set to true if the field is empty and didn't have a empty quotes "" then the field will be set to null. If set to false will always be a empty string.

• map: {Function} = record => record: When set will be called for each record and will make the record whatever is returned. This will wait for this to return before continueing to parse and supports promises and async functions. If this returns undefined or null the record is skipped and not counted a a record.

• batch: {boolean} = false: When set to true will turn on batch mode and will call the batch execution function for each batch waiting for it to finish to continue parsings.

• batchSize: {Number} = 10000: The number of records to include into each batch when running in batch mode.

• batchExecution: {Function} = batch => batch: The function that is called for each batch that supports promises and async functions. The csv parser will wait for each batch to finish before moving on in parsing to not have to load the whole file in memory.

• getInitialValue: {Function} = () => []: This is the function called to get the initial value for the reducer. It by default is a empty array as the default is just an array of all the values resolved. The reason this is a function as it is used in each batch too so could be called mutiple times.

• reducer: {Function} = (current, record, index) => { current.push(record); return current; }: This is the reducer function. By default it just takes the current record and just builds an array. You can use this function to do aggregations instead for just getting the records. The index is the current record count for the whole stream not the batch if doing batching