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PHP Manual

# fgetcsv

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7)

fgetcsv — Gets line from file pointer and parse for CSV fields

### Description

array fgetcsv ( resource `$handle` [, int `$length` = 0 [, string `$delimiter` = "," [, string `$enclosure` = '"' [, string `$escape` = "\" ]]]] )

Similar to fgets() except that fgetcsv() parses the line it reads for fields in CSV format and returns an array containing the fields read.

### Parameters

`handle`

  A valid file pointer to a file successfully opened by fopen(), popen(), or fsockopen().

`length`

  Must be greater than the longest line (in characters) to be found in the CSV file (allowing for trailing line-end characters). It became optional in PHP 5. Omitting this parameter (or setting it to 0 in PHP 5.1.0 and later) the maximum line length is not limited, which is slightly slower.

`delimiter`

  The optional `delimiter` parameter sets the field delimiter (one character only).

`enclosure`

  The optional `enclosure` parameter sets the field enclosure character (one character only).

`escape`

  The optional `escape` parameter sets the escape character (one character only).

### Return Values

Returns an indexed array containing the fields read.

> Note:

> A blank line in a CSV file will be returned as an array comprising a single null field, and will not be treated as an error.

> Note: If PHP is not properly recognizing the line endings when reading files either on or created by a Macintosh computer, enabling the auto_detect_line_endings run-time configuration option may help resolve the problem.

fgetcsv() returns `NULL` if an invalid `handle` is supplied or `FALSE` on other errors, including end of file.

### Changelog

Version | Description
--- | ---
5.3.0 | The `escape` parameter was added
5.1.0 | The `length` is now optional. Default is 0, meaning no length limit.
4.3.5 | fgetcsv() is now binary safe

### Examples

Example #1 Read and print the entire contents of a CSV file

`<?php
$row = 1;
if (($handle = fopen("test.csv", "r")) !== FALSE) {
while (($data = fgetcsv($handle, 1000, ",")) !== FALSE) {
$num = count($data);
echo "<p> $num fields in line $row: <br /></p>\n";
$row++;
for ($c=0; $c < $num; $c++) {
echo $data[$c] . "<br />\n";
}
}
fclose($handle);
}
?>`

### Notes

> Note:

> Locale setting is taken into account by this function. If LANG is e.g. en_US.UTF-8, files in one-byte encoding are read wrong by this function.

### See Also

- str_getcsv() - Parse a CSV string into an array
- explode() - Split a string by string
- file() - Reads entire file into an array
- pack() - Pack data into binary string
- fputcsv() - Format line as CSV and write to file pointer

fgetc
fgets
Filesystem Functions
PHP Manual