How to convert an INI file into an CSV file

Question

I would like to create a csv from a list of data, but the key values differ between sections of the list. The list is of the following layout:

[Game 1]
Publisher=
Developer=
Released=Nov, 2005
Systems=
Genre=Action|Strategy
Perspective=3rd-Person Perspective
Score=4.5
Controls=
Players=
Rating=
Url=http://www.google.com.pl
Description=This cartridge contains six of the 1 kilobyte e......

[Game 2]
Publisher=Home Entertainment Suppliers Pty. Ltd.
Developer=Imagic
Released=1992
Systems=
Genre=Action
Perspective=3rd-Person Perspective
Score=1.5
Controls=Joystick (Digital)|Same/Split-Screen Multiplayer
Players=1-2 Players
Rating=
Url=http://www.google.com
Description=An unlicensed multi-cart from the Australian-bas.....
Goodname=2 Pak Special - Alien Force & Hoppy
NoIntro=
Tosec=2 Pak Special Light Green - Hoppy & Alien Force

Full file here

Each set of data is separated by [Game *] and the values presented for each game can be blank or non existent for some games, eg Goodname=, NoIntro= and Tosec= are missing from Game 1. I don't know the total number of keys/columns required. Ideally I would like each game on a separate line in the csv file.

Anyone have any ideas on how to get this format of data into a csv? I'm stumped. I'm familiar with bash and python but I'm open to any suggestions of how to automate the conversion.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

In Python you can use the ConfigParser library for reading the INI file and the csv library for writing a comma separated file. I wrote below a small script ini2csv.py that you can use to handle your conversion using the following command:

cat atari.ini | ./ini2csv.py > atari.csv

Here is the script:

#!/usr/bin/python
# encoding: utf-8

import sys
import csv
from ConfigParser import ConfigParser

ini = ConfigParser()
ini.readfp(sys.stdin)

#Find all keys in the INI file to build a row template and 
#include a "game" field to store the section name.
rowTemplate = {"game":""} 
for sec in ini.sections():
   for key,value in ini.items(sec):
       rowTemplate[key] = "" 

#Write the CSV file to stdout with all fields in the first line
out = csv.writer(sys.stdout)
out = csv.DictWriter(sys.stdout, fieldnames=rowTemplate.keys())
out.writeheader()

#Write all rows
for sec in ini.sections():
   row = rowTemplate.copy()
   row["game"] = sec
   for key,value in ini.items(sec):
       row[key] = value
   out.writerow(row)

I tested it with the link you provided in your question and it appears to work as expected.