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pythoncsvdelete-row

Delete blank rows from CSV?


I have a large csv file in which some rows are entirely blank. How do I use Python to delete all blank rows from the csv?

After all your suggestions, this is what I have so far

import csv

# open input csv for reading
inputCSV = open(r'C:\input.csv', 'rb')

# create output csv for writing
outputCSV = open(r'C:\OUTPUT.csv', 'wb')

# prepare output csv for appending
appendCSV = open(r'C:\OUTPUT.csv', 'ab')

# create reader object
cr = csv.reader(inputCSV, dialect = 'excel')

# create writer object
cw = csv.writer(outputCSV, dialect = 'excel')

# create writer object for append
ca = csv.writer(appendCSV, dialect = 'excel')

# add pre-defined fields
cw.writerow(['FIELD1_','FIELD2_','FIELD3_','FIELD4_'])

# delete existing field names in input CSV
# ???????????????????????????

# loop through input csv, check for blanks, and write all changes to append csv
for row in cr:
    if row or any(row) or any(field.strip() for field in row):
        ca.writerow(row)

# close files
inputCSV.close()
outputCSV.close()
appendCSV.close()

Is this ok or is there a better way to do this?


Solution

  • Use the csv module:

    import csv
    ...
    
    with open(in_fnam, newline='') as in_file:
        with open(out_fnam, 'w', newline='') as out_file:
            writer = csv.writer(out_file)
            for row in csv.reader(in_file):
                if row:
                    writer.writerow(row)
    

    If you also need to remove rows where all of the fields are empty, change the if row: line to:

    if any(row):
    

    And if you also want to treat fields that consist of only whitespace as empty you can replace it with:

    if any(field.strip() for field in row):
    

    Note that in Python 2.x and earlier, the csv module expected binary files, and so you'd need to open your files with e 'b' flag. In 3.x, doing this will result in an error.